# Corny aphorisms that you’ve come to live by
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corny-aphorisms-that-you-ve-come-to-live-by/956306
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [December 19, 2021, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corny-aphorisms-that-you-ve-come-to-live-by/956306 "2021-12-19T06:22:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 7
### Author:  [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2022, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corny-aphorisms-that-you-ve-come-to-live-by/956306/121 "2022-02-02T21:43:16Z")
I just read one from Miley Cyrus, quoting her dad Billy Ray Cyrus. “Never think outside the box, because there is no box.”
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### Author:  [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2022, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corny-aphorisms-that-you-ve-come-to-live-by/956306/122 "2022-02-13T09:55:47Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#):
>
> You can’t reason with an unreasonable person.
Similarly: you can’t reason someone out of a position they didn’t reason themselves into. (E.g. the futility of presenting facts & logic to someone clinging to an irrational position.)
Another favorite of mine: it takes all kinds to make a world. (Said when encountering someone strange.)
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### Author:  [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2022, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corny-aphorisms-that-you-ve-come-to-live-by/956306/123 "2022-02-13T15:04:46Z")
Be careful what you wish for; it might come true.
90% of what you fear won’t happen.
Don’t engage in a conflict unless there’s a good chance you will win. (I am paraphrasing Sun Tzu who said, “If fighting is sure to result in victory, than you must fight, even though the ruler forbid it; if fighting will not result in victory, then you must not fight even at the ruler’s bidding.”)
One I came up with: It’s better to look good than to be good. (This is said cynically, of course.)
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### Author:  [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2022, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corny-aphorisms-that-you-ve-come-to-live-by/956306/124 "2022-02-13T15:16:26Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#):
>
> Don’t engage in a conflict unless there’s a good chance you will win
When I was a kid, my father told me, " **Never hit anyone in anger** , unless you’re absolutely sure you can get away with it." ~Harold Ramis in “Stripes.”
> [@Crafter\_Man](#):
>
> It’s better to look good than to be good.
Billy did it with a Spanish accent.
> “It is better to look good than to feel good” isn’t a quote from Kim Kardashian—it’s a quote from Lorenzo Lamas’s father, Fernando Lamas, who was parodied by Billy Crystal during his time on _Saturday Night Live._
> **[Quotes - You look mahvelous!](https://www.shmoop.com/quotes/you-look-mahvelous.html)**
>
> You look mahvelous! Get all the details, meaning, context, and even a pretentious factor for good measure.
> [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](#):
>
> Sure, right now he’s hot, but he’s an asshole
[NSFW? Woman in bikini](https://memegenerator.net/instance/46653760/hot-girl-reality-no-matter-how-good-she-looks-somebody-somewhere-is-tired-of-putting-up-with-her-shi)
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### Author:  [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2022, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corny-aphorisms-that-you-ve-come-to-live-by/956306/125 "2022-02-13T15:23:41Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#):
>
> When I was a kid, my father told me, " **Never hit anyone in anger** , unless you’re absolutely sure you can get away with it." ~Harold Ramis in “Stripes.”
Right. And not just hit… it’s applicable for pretty much any conflict. Case in point: someone at my workplace got in a major conflict with his supervisor and _her_ supervisor. Even though he was “in the right,” his odds of success were very, very low due to politics, but _he did it anyway_. It ended up badly for him. Sun Tzu would have chastised him for engaging in a conflict when there was a low chance of him winning.
The lesson is not that you should never fight. The lesson is that you should not act on impulse, and you should make sure the odds are in your favor.
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### Author:  [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2022, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corny-aphorisms-that-you-ve-come-to-live-by/956306/126 "2022-02-13T15:31:11Z")
I remember one comic article where the writer quoted oppositional aphorisms. Like this:
I shouldn’t help you with the barbeque because “Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth”.
Now help me clean up the picnic table because “Many Hands Make Light Work.”
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### Author:  [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2022, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corny-aphorisms-that-you-ve-come-to-live-by/956306/127 "2022-02-13T15:35:04Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#):
>
> The lesson is not that you should never fight. The lesson is that you should not act on impulse, and you should make sure the odds are in your favor.
And then there’s the so-called pyrrhic victory. You might win but at such a high cost that it isn’t worth fighting.
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### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2022, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corny-aphorisms-that-you-ve-come-to-live-by/956306/128 "2022-02-13T20:11:51Z")
Wisdom from my mother: “Never pass up a good bathroom.”
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### Author:  [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2022, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corny-aphorisms-that-you-ve-come-to-live-by/956306/129 "2022-02-14T12:48:13Z")
If you find yourself in a fair fight, there has been a failure of planning or preparation.
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### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2022, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corny-aphorisms-that-you-ve-come-to-live-by/956306/130 "2022-02-14T16:33:08Z")
At work:
_Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part._
Might work in _some_ personal scenarios…
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### Author:  [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2022, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corny-aphorisms-that-you-ve-come-to-live-by/956306/131 "2022-02-14T17:07:02Z")
I use this one all the time, now that I am getting older. Heh.
I like this one, and use it to keep myself calm when things don’t go as planned…
_If a problem can be solved, there is nothing to worry about._
_If a problem cannot be solved, then worrying will do no good._
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### Author:  [@jerseymule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerseymule)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2022, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corny-aphorisms-that-you-ve-come-to-live-by/956306/132 "2022-02-19T22:27:09Z")
Don’t sweat the small stuff.
To each his own ice cream cone.
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### Author:  [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2022, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corny-aphorisms-that-you-ve-come-to-live-by/956306/133 "2022-02-19T23:25:55Z")
You know what they say about sleeping dogs. You can’t believe a word they tell you. That’s okay, let 'em lie.
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### Author:  [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2022, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corny-aphorisms-that-you-ve-come-to-live-by/956306/134 "2022-02-19T23:49:45Z")
Speed kills!
[ ](https://www.comicsreporter.com/images/uploads/fatfreddythree_thumb.jpg)
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### Author:  [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2022, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corny-aphorisms-that-you-ve-come-to-live-by/956306/135 "2022-02-19T23:52:45Z")
Ah, a Tom Waits connoisseur 😃 🥃
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### Author:  [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2022, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corny-aphorisms-that-you-ve-come-to-live-by/956306/136 "2022-02-20T00:34:16Z")
> [@jerseymule](#):
>
> Don’t sweat the small stuff.
Don’t sweat the petty things, and don’t pet the sweaty things.
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### Author:  [@Tride](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tride)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2022, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corny-aphorisms-that-you-ve-come-to-live-by/956306/137 "2022-02-20T00:52:23Z")
From another board: “If you have a problem that can be solved by writing a check, you don’t have a problem, you have an expense.”
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### Author:  [@3AxisCtrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3AxisCtrl)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2022, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corny-aphorisms-that-you-ve-come-to-live-by/956306/138 "2022-02-20T01:01:23Z")
“We live among them every day, so we tend to lose track of just how strange humans really are.”
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### Author:  [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2022, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corny-aphorisms-that-you-ve-come-to-live-by/956306/139 "2022-02-20T18:22:34Z")
From one of my favourite blogs: “The only normal people are those you don’t know well.”
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### Author:  [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2022, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corny-aphorisms-that-you-ve-come-to-live-by/956306/140 "2022-02-20T18:49:08Z")
60% of anything is just showing up.
– Groucho Marx, IIRC
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