One swallow does not make a summer

Origin of: One swallow does not make a summer

One swallow does not make a summer

An ancient proverb, attributed to Aristotle (384-322 BC) that expounds the basic principle of induction, namely that one cannot infer a general rule from one observation. It is first cited in English in John Heywood’s Proverbs (1546) “One swallow maketh not summer.”