A picture is worth a thousand words
Meaning: Visual information communicates more effectively than text.
Origin: An American advertising slogan dressed up as ancient wisdom. The advertising man Fred R. Barnard used "One look is worth a thousand words" in the trade journal Printers' Ink in 1921, and in 1927 ran "One picture is worth ten thousand words" under the label "Chinese proverb," to make it sound venerable. No Chinese source for it has ever been found.
Equivalents in French, Spanish, Japanese, and German
- French: Une image vaut mille mots (literally: An image is worth a thousand words)
- Spanish: Una imagen vale más que mil palabras (literally: An image is worth more than a thousand words)
- Japanese: 百聞は一見に如かず (Hyakubun wa ikken ni shikazu) (literally: Hearing a hundred times is not as good as seeing once)
- German: Ein Bild sagt mehr als tausend Worte (literally: A picture says more than a thousand words)
More proverbs about Communication
- The squeaky wheel gets the grease — Those who complain the most get attention.
- It takes two to tango — Both parties are responsible in a conflict.
- United we stand, divided we fall — Strength comes from unity.
- A rising tide lifts all boats — General improvements benefit everyone.
- A chain is only as strong as its weakest link — A group's effectiveness is limited by its weakest member.
- Silence speaks volumes — What is not said can be more meaningful than what is.