# Dueling Aphorisms **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 28, 2009, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dueling-aphorisms/504585 "2009-07-28T20:02:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Red\_Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aca169/32.png) [@Red\_Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dueling-aphorisms/504585/21 "2009-07-31T01:02:02Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > If the early bird gets the worm, what does the early worm get? eaten? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dueling-aphorisms/504585/22 "2009-07-31T03:52:37Z")
[Gogo-gadget Rinkworks!](http://www.rinkworks.com/words/proverbs.shtml) Most of them are already on here, but I still like With age comes wisdom. \<----\> Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings come all wise sayings. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dueling-aphorisms/504585/23 "2009-07-31T13:46:28Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > I think you just created a new aphorism. 🙂 Never eat the vichyssoise at gigi’s or Asimovian’s vs. Never turn down a free meal ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dueling-aphorisms/504585/24 "2009-07-31T15:35:02Z")
“Trust but verify” is dueling with itself! “Neither a borrower nor a lender be” vs. “A true friend counts not the cost.” “Winning isn’t everything” vs. “Winning is the _only_ thing.” “Don’t judge a book by its cover” vs. “You don’t have to eat the whole cake to know how it tastes.” “My country, right or wrong” vs. “Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.” “Absence makes the heart grow fonder” and “Familiarity breeds contempt” are oddly complimentary. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dueling-aphorisms/504585/25 "2009-07-31T18:24:44Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > “My country, right or wrong” vs. “Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.” With the full first quote, those aren’t dueling. Carl Schurz of Missouri said “My country, right or wrong. When right, to be kept right; when wrong, to be set right.” ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dueling-aphorisms/504585/26 "2009-07-31T20:27:26Z")
> [@Red\_Skeezix](#): > > eaten? :dubious: :smack: You’re just supposed to let it hang there. Way to ruin the ominous tone! How 'bout “Patience is a virtue” and “Time is of the essence” ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dueling-aphorisms/504585/27 "2009-07-31T22:07:00Z")
> [@Captain\_Carrot](#): > > With the full first quote, those aren’t dueling. Carl Schurz of Missouri said “My country, right or wrong. When right, to be kept right; when wrong, to be set right.” Long before that naval hero Stephen Decatur said, in an after-dinner toast, “Our Country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right; but right or wrong, our country!” That’s usually quoted as “My country, right or wrong.” Schurz adapted it. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dueling-aphorisms/504585/28 "2009-07-31T22:23:15Z")
“Familiarity breeds confidence” vs. “Familiarity breeds contempt” ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dueling-aphorisms/504585/29 "2009-08-01T02:24:33Z")
Medieval 2: Total War has aphorisms about war and governance that display while the games or battles are loaded. Several of them contradict other aphorisms that also come up sometimes: the two examples I can think of both involve a quote from Machiavelli: Machiavelli: Men should either be treated kindly or destroyed, for a hurt man can seek revenge, a ruined man cannot. vs. some other dude: Do not do every thing in your power to hurt a man, for you do not know when he might become your friend. Machiavelli: The sinews of war is not money, but good soldiers. vs. some other dude: To wage war three things are necessary: money, money, and yet more money. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dueling-aphorisms/504585/30 "2009-08-01T03:16:29Z")
I saw these two written on a stall in a women’s room at college once, in two different handwritings: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” and “Time spent thinking is time lost doing.” I pondered the two of them for some time (hey, I was in there anyway…) and added my own thought to the mix: “I fucked your dad.” It seemed oddly appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dueling-aphorisms/504585/31 "2009-08-01T14:03:48Z")
“Women. Can’t live with them, can’t live without them.” Wait, that’s just one. Let’s try: “Women. Can’t live with them.” and “Women. Can’t live without them.” ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dueling-aphorisms/504585/32 "2009-08-01T15:24:02Z")
“The early bird gets the worm” vs. “The early worm gets the bird.” But my favorite pair since I’ve seen it both ways and both are entirely valid: “The good is the enemy of the best” vs. “The best is the enemy of the good” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dueling-aphorisms/504585.md?page=1)