“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”
Assuming that life also gives you potable water, a large amount of sugar, a knife, a lemon press, and preferably some sort of pitcher and stirring implement.
Yes, of course. Because no woman or black person has ever had any opportunities, or been successful in America. And of course all non-ethnic people in the “majority” are automatically imbued with complete and automatic success and have never had moment’s inequality in their lives. Please…I though we were keeping politics out of this one?
ANYWAY, Mine would have to be a combination of two mentioned above. The that which doesn’t destroy/kill you…
As to the destroy part, my brain always says “define destroy”. And to the kill part my brain states “yes, but at what cost”.
I’m sure I"m not alone in coming out of some horrific tragedy on the other side, having survived, but not at all happy about what it cost me as a person re: loss of innocence etc.
I mean, does merely bodily surviving a horrendous setback while remaining reasonably functional mean “stronger”? And is becoming “strong” always a good thing? I’d sure trade some of my supposed strength for the fun and happy-go-luckiness of my youth.
Everything happens for a reason.
“Healthy as a horse,” my ass. Horses are constantly finding ways to hurt themselves and are prone to life-threatening colic. Any systemic disturbance (fever, diarrhea, colic, infections, insulin resistance, bad lottery numbers) can lead to crippling laminitis which can literally make their hooves fall off. Cows, now, cattle are hardy creatures.
I always understood the bumblebee thing as saying that the physics of their tiny wings and fat bodies should make it impossible to fly, but they do because no one told them they couldn’t.
Oooh, good one! My little sister has hunter-jumpers and man are you ever right! For a big strong animal, the least little thing makes them sick.
When quoted at me: “Do or do not. There is no try.” Look, numbnuts, I’m not a jedi. And there are other factors at work here besides my ability. I’ll try, and hope the other person isn’t simply better, that the wind favors me, that my car doesn’t break down, or whatever might hinder my chances. I’ll try my best, it’s not always entirely up to me.
Yeah, that one annoys me as well because, no, *not *every family is dysfunctional. There are no issues in my family, no divorces, no alcoholism, drug addicts, abuse, etc. or anything else that one could describe as “dysfunctional.”
“Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
Not really. Usually people just fade out of memory.
I think that would make you part of the problem… :dubious:
I humbly offer “There’s someone for everyone”. For an unfortunate few there just isn’t a “someone”, and for many more I believe it’s a case of making the best of whatever you can get, possibly taking comfort from the apprehension that the other person is doing exactly the same.
Well… I think there is something in the psychology of total commitment and putting out of your mind even the prospect of failure that increases the prospects of actual success. And giving yourself excuses in advance like the wind being against you, the car breaking down and the undoubted truth that it’s not entirely up to you tends to weaken resolve. The aphorism is about motivation and attitude, not objective “truth”. Self-confidence is often self-fulfilling.
That said, the gain is probably only marginal, unless one is a completely negative Neil to begin with. And people who too regularly spout this motivational stuff come across as gung-ho dicks. But that is a different issue.
As to the OP, for me the problem is that aphorisms hunt in pairs. For every “look before you leap”, there’s a “he who hesitates is lost”. For every “many hands make light work” there is a “too many cooks spoil the broth”. If only the Aphorism Police would at least make sure the whole enterprise is internally consistent.
A well regulated militia, [is] necessary to the security of a free state.
“There is not try” does not mean that everyone can overcome the forces of nature and that everyone is immune to acts of god. It just means that statements like “I’ll try to stay sober”, “I’ll try to finish my thesis” or “I’ll try not to re-offend” are somewhat problematic. By “somewhat problematic” I mean to say - take control of your life you lazy criminal drunk.
Yeah. I have a friend who has screwed up his life pretty bad and has been in the same bad place for literally years. Every time I talk to him, he tells me how hard he is trying to make things better- he’s trying to find a job, he’s trying to do art, he’s trying to get a life. I finally had to tell him, “Dude, trying counts for nothing. Either you do it or you don’t.” Sometimes in life, results are what matters.
Let’s go ahead and clear the air about the bumblebee thing:
For many years, this was something that people would say against a perceived hubris on the part of Science. If you crunch the numbers, the wings of the bumblebee should not be able to lift its mass. Well, Science has long since figured out how it works, but occasionally you still get people citing the supposed impossibility of bumblebee flight as evidence that all kinds of stupidity isn’t as stupid as it sounds.
But mostly the things people are bitching about in this thread seem not to be aphorisms that are outright false, like that frogs will allow themselves to boil alive if you raise the temperature slowly enough, but rather you’re complaining about proverbs that merely lack literal truth. But these things aren’t meant to be taken so literally.
It’s not true that a dog’s bark is worse than its bite, but you get the point.
It’s not true that there’s no such thing as a free lunch, but you get the point.
There is wisdom in these, though they can be used foolishly. What worries me are proverbs that actually contain foolishness in themselves:
Leap, and a net will appear.
Or ones that people use to congratulate themselves before they’ve accomplished anything:
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Or ones that are used as excuses:
You only hurt the ones you love.
Or ones that use nonsense to make a point, but people lose sight of the fact that it’s nonsense:
Give 110%.
So…
‘Look things over before you act, but don’t be too long about it’
and
‘Be sure to use the appropriate number of people for the job at hand’
Not as catchy, but far more suitable for everyday application. Now how to contact the Aphorism Police…
“You leave me no choice” is always a lie. There’s always a choice, but the person doesn’t want to make the other one. What the person is really saying is, “I’m about to screw you good, but I don’t blame myself.”
No. The verb Nietzsche used was umbringen, which unambiguously means kill.
I was commenting on Thomas Jefferson’s failure to consider those classes of people.
Exremely well put.
Pretty sure this is true.
I know it is meant to say, buck up dude, something good may come from this, or God has a plan.
But, everything does happen for a reason, the reason may be totally bad and out of your control, but something has put the final result in motion.