The article is dedicated to the memory of the famous Russianist, phraseologist and paremiologist V.I. Zimin. In his scienti c heritage, a special place is occupied by the publication of an etymological dictionary of Russian phraseology and a paremiological thesaurus, on which he worked together with A.S. Spirin. The value of the multifaceted analysis of each pair is demonstrated in the article using the example of the Russian proverb Live life, do not cross the eld. It has only an East Slavic range and is recorded in different versions. The creative potential of this proverb is also revealed in the literary text, especially in poetry. Examples of such use are consonant with the work of V.I. Zimin.