# Stupid Quotations You Hate To Hear **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 19, 2012, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-quotations-you-hate-to-hear/619241 "2012-04-19T03:42:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![manila](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@manila](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manila)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-quotations-you-hate-to-hear/619241/61 "2012-04-20T11:01:22Z")
There’s no “I” in Team no but there’s an M and an E! Me Me Me! ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-quotations-you-hate-to-hear/619241/62 "2012-04-20T14:08:49Z")
“This too shall pass.” My mom used to say this when I was having hard times. I know it’s true, but it felt like whatever I was going through at that time was being trivialized. Similarily: “Que sera, sera.” ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-quotations-you-hate-to-hear/619241/63 "2012-04-20T14:37:55Z")
> [@cwthree](#): > > Why on earth would they want to make it fairer? These are usually the same people who like to pretend that they got theirs without anyone else’s help, after all. > > These also piss me off: > > **1. “There is no ‘I’ in ‘team’”** : Sure, because a team is a Borg-like, hive-minded, collective consciousness, not a group of individuals who each bring unique talents and perspective to further a common goal. “Nor is there one in cooperate, so I guess you won’t be needing me.” ---
**Author:** ![67java89](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/aeb1de/32.png) [@67java89](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/67java89)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-quotations-you-hate-to-hear/619241/64 "2012-04-20T18:44:05Z")
“Garbage in, garbage out”. This never made any sense to me, yet it’s way overused by some parents regarding what they let their kids read or watch on tv. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Mikemike2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikemike2/32/305_2.png) [@Mikemike2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikemike2)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-quotations-you-hate-to-hear/619241/65 "2012-04-20T19:26:51Z")
I kind of like “it is what it is.” When someone is being emotional about a situation that is not going to change, that phrase gets straight to the point. Of course any saying gets tired and worn out if it is used too much. It is … ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-quotations-you-hate-to-hear/619241/66 "2012-04-20T19:33:34Z")
“Those who forget the past are condemned to relive it”, usually delivered in a patronizing tone by some nimrod who absorbed a few cliches about Munich or the Vietnam War and likes to preach. _As if_ we’re all going to remember the same parts of the past and draw the same lessons from it, and _as if_ those lessons will still be applicable in the inevitably different circumstances of the future. ---
**Author:** ![67java89](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/aeb1de/32.png) [@67java89](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/67java89)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-quotations-you-hate-to-hear/619241/67 "2012-04-20T20:34:16Z")
Grrr…here’s another: One Day At A Time. WTF! As if we have the option to take life 2 or 3 days at a time. ---
**Author:** ![limegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/82dd89/32.png) [@limegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/limegreen)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-quotations-you-hate-to-hear/619241/68 "2012-04-20T20:53:07Z")
> [@67java89](#): > > Grrr…here’s another: One Day At A Time. WTF! As if we have the option to take life 2 or 3 days at a time. If I take enough of the good meds, I can sometimes pass through 3 or 4 days at a time… ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-quotations-you-hate-to-hear/619241/69 "2012-04-21T00:58:11Z")
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. No, that’s the definition of **practice**. Or **mastery**. One cannot pick up a musical instrument one time and expect to be a virtuoso, for instance. True geniuses have spent tens of thousands of hours doing the same thing over and over. I guess it’s true that that sort of dedication makes one insanely proficient. ---
**Author:** ![living\_in\_hell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@living\_in\_hell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/living_in_hell)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-quotations-you-hate-to-hear/619241/70 "2012-04-21T02:04:38Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. > > No, that’s the definition of **practice**. Or **mastery**. One cannot pick up a musical instrument one time and expect to be a virtuoso, for instance. True geniuses have spent tens of thousands of hours doing the same thing over and over. > > I guess it’s true that that sort of dedication makes one insanely proficient. Didn’t Einstein say this? ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-quotations-you-hate-to-hear/619241/71 "2012-04-21T02:16:06Z")
Minor hijack, sorry, but is there any reason to believe that Einstein was a Savant or had Asperger’s? I have a friend in Australia who has visited me twice and he blew me away with his math skills, yet he couldn’t function at all on a day to day routine basis without his wife. Lord! I’ve been seriously lacking in keeping in touch with him! It’s been too much “me, me, me”. I need to change that. Q ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-quotations-you-hate-to-hear/619241/72 "2012-04-21T05:01:20Z")
**tdn** , I disagree. Don’t people practice because they’re not doing the thing well enough? If so, they’re not doing exactly the same thing over and over if they’re getting better at it- what they’re doing is changing. If they’ve mastered the thing they have practiced, they expect the same thing every time they do it, don’t they? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-quotations-you-hate-to-hear/619241/73 "2012-04-21T11:40:31Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > **tdn** , I disagree. Don’t people practice because they’re not doing the thing well enough? If so, they’re not doing exactly the same thing over and over if they’re getting better at it- what they’re doing is changing. If they’ve mastered the thing they have practiced, they expect the same thing every time they do it, don’t they? Yes, of course. I used to have a friend that did the same thing over and over. She’d lie on her couch and devour a bucket of wings. What didn’t change was her weight. Then one day she decided to go to a gym. When she got back, she found that she’d actually gained a pound. She concluded that “exercise is bullshit.” When I pointed out that she’d have to go at least a few times a week for at least six months, she was all “fuck that shit!” In her case, doing the same thing over and over – that is, going to the gym – is not insanity, it’s weight loss. In my case, doing the same thing over and over – dumping ignorant friends and retaining smart friends – is working out pretty well for me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-quotations-you-hate-to-hear/619241/74 "2012-04-21T16:13:25Z")
The one that frosts me is “Don’t work harder, just work smarter”. Usually uttered by a manager who has let things get really screwed up and is basically giving up on the situation. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-quotations-you-hate-to-hear/619241/75 "2012-04-21T16:22:15Z")
> [@Daylate](#): > > The one that frosts me is “Don’t work harder, just work smarter”. Usually uttered by a manager who has let things get really screwed up and is basically giving up on the situation. Now see, I like this one. You can interpret it as a suggestion to work more efficiently. I see a lot of people spinning their wheels expending great effort to get results that are attainable with less effort, and more quickly, if they just determined to work more efficiently. It’s the whole TPS Report thing: waste of time and effort. ---
**Author:** ![Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emtar_KronJonDerSohn)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-quotations-you-hate-to-hear/619241/76 "2012-04-21T16:42:03Z")
“I don’t believe in luck, the bible says” etc Okay psycho, what I meant to say is that I hope you reach a positive and beneficial outcome for this current endeavor you are undertaking. Or, in English, as spoken by normal people, GOOD LUCK ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-quotations-you-hate-to-hear/619241/77 "2012-04-21T17:45:10Z")
> [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](#): > > Now see, I like this one. You can interpret it as a suggestion to work more efficiently. Well, since it’s an aphorism it hard ever is practical advice. Half of the time, the people could be working more efficiently, but simply repeating that mantra will not magically show them how to do so. The other half of the time, the addressees already _are_ working efficiently and it is simply an effort to blame them for not being superhumanly productive. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-quotations-you-hate-to-hear/619241/78 "2012-04-21T19:38:37Z")
> [@](#): > > “Everything happens for a reason.” I’m pretty churchy, and I hate that one. It implies that everything is from God. So my church secretary being killed by a drunk driver is part of God’s perfect plan then, and not just the result of people being bad. To be fair, I didn’t hear anyone use that phrase for that circumstance. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-quotations-you-hate-to-hear/619241/79 "2012-04-21T19:45:54Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > “Stop crying or I’ll give you something to cry about.” > > Has that EVER worked? I don’t think spanking is a good response to whiny, crying, complaining kids, but after a certain age, there can be consequences of being removed from the group and the possibility of sympathy. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-quotations-you-hate-to-hear/619241/80 "2012-04-22T02:39:22Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Well, since it’s an aphorism it hard ever is practical advice. Half of the time, the people could be working more efficiently, but simply repeating that mantra will not magically show them how to do so. Oh. Well, I guess I would expect an aphorism like this one to be accompanied with some useful suggestion with what actions one should stop and replace with some other action. Or maybe it’s just a helpful reminder to someone who’s already been counseled on their work habits. But I do see your point. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-quotations-you-hate-to-hear/619241.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-quotations-you-hate-to-hear/619241.md?page=5)