# Quotes that at first sound profound but really are obvious, stupid or pointless **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 25, 2004, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-that-at-first-sound-profound-but-really-are-obvious-stupid-or-pointless/256800 "2004-07-25T14:13:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-that-at-first-sound-profound-but-really-are-obvious-stupid-or-pointless/256800/101 "2025-08-12T22:07:05Z")
Or “Things happen for a reason.” Some of them do, some of them happen for reasons we may not understand until much later, and some of them have no known reason at all. ETA: I realized this was a zombie thread when I saw the post that was obviously made when Christopher Reeve was still alive. ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-that-at-first-sound-profound-but-really-are-obvious-stupid-or-pointless/256800/102 "2025-08-13T03:45:16Z")
And by extension, “It’s all part of God’s plan.” Oh, really? The supposedly all-loving God has some master plan, that includes innocent people suffering? Or when some nutjob shows up with a gun at a school and mows down a bunch of kids, that’s all just part of the Grand Scheme? Give me a fucking break. Why does anyone believe such nonsense? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-that-at-first-sound-profound-but-really-are-obvious-stupid-or-pointless/256800/103 "2025-08-13T06:54:25Z")
The late Christopher Hitchens is often admiringly quoted for having said _“I have one consistency, which is being against the totalitarian – on the left and on the right.”_ Gosh, what an ideology-transcending principled maverick, huh? Welllll… not really? I’m reminded of the line in Tom Lehrer’s “The Folk Song Army” where the narrator declares _“We all hate poverty, war and injustice, Unlike the rest of you squares!”_ In fact, though, being against poverty, war and injustice—and totalitarianism—is pretty much the default baseline position for **any** decent and rational person. If anti-totalitarianism is the “one consistency” of your political principles, then your principles are pretty incoherent. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-that-at-first-sound-profound-but-really-are-obvious-stupid-or-pointless/256800/104 "2025-08-13T22:08:16Z")
Copy and pasted from another thread here: I’ve told this story here before and probably will again: Shortly after Sandy Hook, my Episcopal priest was at a community event with his family. He overheard a little girl ask her mother, “Why did that man shoot all those kids?” and Mom replied, “Sweetheart, God needed more angels.” My pastor introduced himself, and told that woman that while he doesn’t know why it happened either, the God he believes in DOES NOT arrange the mass murder of children to make angels. He was so forceful, several people, including his own wife, nearly called 911 on him. He also rewrote his sermon for the next day. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-that-at-first-sound-profound-but-really-are-obvious-stupid-or-pointless/256800/105 "2025-08-13T23:15:50Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Or “Things happen for a reason.” The way I always put it, there’s always a reason for everything, but sometimes it’s a stupid reason. It’s still usually helpful to know what the reason is, though. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2025, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-that-at-first-sound-profound-but-really-are-obvious-stupid-or-pointless/256800/106 "2025-08-14T01:19:07Z")
It’s the important things in life that matter. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2025, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-that-at-first-sound-profound-but-really-are-obvious-stupid-or-pointless/256800/107 "2025-08-14T01:27:21Z")
D’oh! ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2025, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-that-at-first-sound-profound-but-really-are-obvious-stupid-or-pointless/256800/108 "2025-08-14T01:33:29Z")
That’s what they all say. They all say “D’oh!” ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2025, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-that-at-first-sound-profound-but-really-are-obvious-stupid-or-pointless/256800/109 "2025-08-14T01:44:53Z")
Lorna “_Angels in My Hair_” Byrne is a Catholic Irishwoman. She keeps telling grieving parents that according to official Catholic doctrine, dead children’s souls do not turn into angels. They remain human souls. It’s pop religion that spread the concept of dead children being angels. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2025, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-that-at-first-sound-profound-but-really-are-obvious-stupid-or-pointless/256800/110 "2025-08-14T03:08:27Z")
“Everything will be OK in the end. If it’s not OK, it’s not the end.” This one makes me stabby. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2025, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-that-at-first-sound-profound-but-really-are-obvious-stupid-or-pointless/256800/111 "2025-08-14T10:03:24Z")
By an amazing coincidence, that quote appeared about an hour ago in a book I’m currently reading ! Apparently John Lennon said it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-that-at-first-sound-profound-but-really-are-obvious-stupid-or-pointless/256800.md?page=5)