Some adages, such as Murphy's Law, are first formulated informally and given proper names later, while others, such as the Peter Principle, have proper names in their initial formulation; it might be argued that the latter sort does not represent "true" adages, but the two types are often difficult to distinguish.
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The script, written by Cesare Zavattini, was inspired by an Apollinaire adage ("Sickness is the vacation of the poor").
Conway's law is an adage named after computer programmer Melvin Conway, who introduced the idea in 1968; it was first dubbed Conway's law by participants at the 1968 National Symposium on Modular Programming.
Those who practice malandragem (o malandro) act in the manner of the popular Brazilian adage, immortalized in a catch phrase of former Brazilian soccer player Gérson de Oliveira Nunes in a cigarette TV commercial (hence the name it was given: Lei do Gérson, or Gérson's law): “I like to get an advantage in everything.”
This Chicago money manager takes exception with the old stock market adage of buying low and selling high.
At this time, an adage was added to the English lexicon, "To work at Campana is like being a member of Frederick Stock's musical ensemble".