One obvious overlap between philosophical doctrine and popular wisdom is in vocabulary. We have seen that popular sayings and stories employ a very wide range of terms for good and bad qualities and behaviours. Philosophers do not use quite so many terms, but many of those they do use are the same. The cardinal virtues, courage, justice, practical wisdom and temperance are strongly represented in both groups (and in all the philosophical schools). Confidence, benevolence, piety, self-control, usefulness, honour, truthfulness, friendship are all familiar concepts to users of popular wisdom. Health, beauty and strength, wealth, reputation and high birth all make their appearance in high philosophy as well as being praised in popular sayings and stories. Vices like anger, envy, violence, greed, lust, trickery and superstition are condemned equally by intellectuals and masses.

A certain amount of the vocabulary in philosophical lists of virtues and vices does not feature in exactly the same form in popular wisdom, but seems to be labelling recognizably the same concepts. The verb dikaiopragein, for instance, ‘to do justice’, does not appear in popular literature, but it is obviously related to dikaios. Aphrainein, to be foolish, means the same as mê phronein or môrein. Authekastos, ‘truthful’, means the same as alêthês or alêthinos. Popular wisdom may not have a term, to hêgemonikon, for the part of the mind that rules one rationally, but it is familiar with the concept.