The article considers the problem of proverb stability and modifications, difference between the terms modification and transformation. Characterized are the main methods of transformation of the proverb “The devil is not as terrible as it is depicted” in newspaper discourse and social networks, while the functional potential of anti‐proverbs formed on its basis is described. The author draws the conclusion that standard modifications within the national paremiological corpus cannot be perceived as textual or occasional modifications. They should be taken as systemic variations within the language norm that exist in the mind of native speakers, ones that do not add another semantic meaning and are not recognized by native speakers as proverb deformations. Differences between proverbs (sayings of an edifying character, which contain the centuries‐old experience of the people) and anti‐proverbs (the authors consider anti‐proverbs to be the semantic antithesis of proverbs) are highlighted. The authors pay special attention to the study of the semantics of proverbs and their transformants to identify any relevant semantic and cognitive characteristics. The productive transformation of classical proverbs convinces one of the heredity of folk wisdom, the change of the deep meaning and formal plan of the original proverbs testifies to their adaptation to new social and historical conditions and values. As a result of the investigation it was observed that proverbs as with folklore small genre texts are flexible, open to transformation, reproduction, semantic and textual deviations. These communicative units are distinguished with dynamism, evolution, formal and semantic deviations. They go back to the precedent texts, starting their new life.