Does the origin of a phrase contribute to it's credibility?

It depends. There's a quote from Marilyn Monroe about relationships that I see bandied about Facebook a lot: "if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best". Taking advice from Marilyn Monroe - a woman who married and divorced three times - about how to handle your relationships seems like an idiotic thing to do (and that's quite apart from the fact that people only ever pull that quote out when they're being total hypocrites: "Oh, don't judge me because Marilyn Monroe says you should love me for all my faults and if you don't you're a bad person" "Well, stupid, one of my faults is judging you when you do something bad; doesn't that mean *you* should love *me* anyway too?!?!". Oh my God some people annoy me.).

I think the credibility of a quote can be affected by its origin if there's a good reason for it. None of this "it's old so it must be true" or "some Greek guy with a long name said it, therefore I must base my life around this one aphorism" bollocks.

I thought this was going to be about something different.

But yes the appearance of something often ends up being the actuality of it. For whatever reason there seems to be this notion in our culture that those in the far-east have some mystical wisdom to dispense, hence we're predisposed to see them that way.

Fortune cookies are lies!!

To me, it doesn't. But to idiots, you never know.

I think it does, yes, although nothing should be taken at face value. China has a history eight times longer than (English-speaking) America and has a population much, much great so it's logical to believe that neither a Chinese or American brain being superior or inferior, the Chinese will have come up with more proverbs and better proverbs.

This is a generalisation, though. If we're talking about a specific proverb or saying, it should be examined individually. The proverb you read makes sense to me. It's a metaphor that describes "the destiny of something that will happen" as a red thread. At face value, though, it's a bit pointless because, deconstructed, it means "If you are going to meet someone in the future, you will continue to become nearer to meeting them and you will never get to a point where you don't meet someone it is destined that you will meet". Bit silly, but silly in a harmless way.

I guess it matters, yeah. Certain places just have a reputation. I mean, hearing a proverb which originated from Hull doesn't sound the same as hearing one from China. Let's say Hull is one day overflowing with proverb-makers who come up with loads of really good proverbs, etc. If that happened, then maybe it would get known for that sort of thing, and Hull's proverbs would be on their way to becoming just as reputable as China's.

But yeah, I agree. It's the same proverb, regardless where it came from. It's not like it changes. Maybe it would just be more surprising coming from certain places, which haven't went through certain events and movements. I'm really not sure, I'm making all of this up, to be honest. It just sort of reminds me of all those skincare and make up adverts, everything is from Paris!:P I think with that one they're going for sophistication of something like that, which you wouldn't get somewhere else (like Hull! Imagine that: Loreal Hull:P)

Edit: I just realised I didn't entirely answer the question about "credibilty". I'm not sure what makes it credible, sorry!