That doesn’t mean there has to be a reason behind it, unless you are equating “reason” with “cause.” The phrase means that there is a purpose to everything, not that there is a cause for everything.
Right, people don’t mean “Everything has an efficient cause” when they say, “Everything happens for a reason.” They mean “Everything has a final cause.” I.e., this is all part of a (presumably) benevolent plan on the part of (one hopes) God. Not as catchy, but less likely to be misunderstood. This seems to be a problem with a lot of proverbs – their metaphors died, the language moved out from under them, but they still get repeated as something more like magic incantations than the summation of a parable or broader body of wisdom shared by speakers.
“If life deals you lemons, why not go kill someone with the lemons
(maybe by shoving them down his throat).”
Jack Handey
“he who desires peace, let him prepare for war” - George Washington
“One cannot simultaneously prepare for and prevent war” -Albert Einstein
“I’m speechless.”
It goes back way before Washington.
He seemed to have forgotten his own maxim, “Imagination is more important than knowledge” and the Farnsworth corrolary, “Nothing’s a complete load! Not if you can imagine it!”
You make your own luck.
Uhh, no. Luck is by definition outside of one’s control. Stop trying to take credit for your own good fortune/ stop trying to make out that people’s bad luck is all their own fault.
I disagree with your characterization of this one. The commonly-accepted "point’ of this saying is something like “do not be daunted by the apparent difficulty of a task”, which is a perfectly good message.
In many cases, the same bit of advice can appear either wise or totally foolish depending on the circumstances.
I’ve never heard that aphorism used for self-congratulation. I’ve mostly heard it used to hector people who won’t start something because it’s too hard to finish.
That first step is pretty trivial unless the journey in question is a thousand miles straight down.
That’s probably also the case, but it still seems less common to me than people who did start something because some cliche they heard encouraged them to overlook how much work it was actually going to be.
“You can’t cheat an honest man.”
I like the way this sounds, but I have been trying for years to have it make any sort of sense. I understand that an honest man wouldn’t necessarily go for a get-rich-quick scheme or something like that, but in everything else - from buying a used car, to getting fleeced in a “friendly” card game - he’s fair game.
I think you just punched a bunch of geeks in the rhetorical gut. What a depressing view.
The idea - mentally breaking a massively daunting task (such as a thousand mile journey) into bits that are easy to do (steps). Then, starting.
As with all aphorisms, it can be dumb advice depending on the circumstances, but the point is to get over the psychological hurde of starting something difficult (but presumably necessary).
This one is like you say only partly true. It plays on the fact that a huge number of con games basically require the target to be enticed into some sort of criminality ("Dear sir, I’m a scamming Nigerian banker who seeks to hide a million dollars in your country … ").
Of course, there are an equally huge number of cons that work perfectly well on honest folks.
I hate it when people make some comment and then say “I’m just saying.” I’ve never heard that used when the person wasn’t also implying something pretty heavily.
And I’ve harped on this one before, but the saying “you can’t prove a negative” always grates on me.
i will always be there for you.
‘Be careful what you wish for… because you might just get it.’
Yeah, I’m sure my life would be ruined if I got a nice house with a garden. Far better than I not wish for anything at all.
Yes, that is the actual problem, whatever I might think of the expression itself. Yet, the emphasis on the single step does lend itself to the very abuse I complained about. Moreso, say, than the expression “Water drops hollow stone, not by strength but by persistence.” But of course, I’m sure someone has already abused the hell out of that one. And on from night to morning the world runs ruinward.