Golden Olden Cliches and Quotes

I was pilfering through my quote notebooks (countless notebooks that I’ve filled with favorite quotes) - trying to find a hard hitting motivational one for today’s Quote of the Day.  I came across this golden oldie:  “When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.”

My knee jerk reaction was, “Why in all of the world did I write that oldy goldy down?” Then, as I continued looking for a flashier quote, I kept thinking of the rope…and the knot.  Later, while making a Tex Mex supper, I thought about the quote again.

Frankly, that’s a darn good quote - it’s age bedanged.  Then I started thinking about other quotes and cliches that are either long in tooth and/or thread bare. I’ve listed them below - read each as though you’re reading it for the first time.

Quitters never win and winners never quit.

When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.

You can drag a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.

Beauty’s only skin deep.

A good man is hard to find.

God could not be everywhere, so he created mothers. 

Well done is better than well said.  ~Benjamin Franklin

Old age isn’t so bad when you consider the alternative.

Behind the clouds, the sun is shining.

It could be worse.

Tomorrow’s another day.

When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.

Every cloud has a silver lining.

This too shall pass. (My mom used to say that all the time. She was right about that, too.)

Cheer up, it’s not the end of the world.

You can’t judge a book by its cover.

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

There’s nothing to fear but fear itself.

Life goes on.

When it rains, it pours.

There is truth in every cliche.

A watched pot never boils.

Time heals all wounds.

What wound ever healed but by degrees?

Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Anything worth having is worth fighting for.

You have to love yourself before anyone else will.

If at first you don’t succeed, redefine success.

If you can’t dazzle them with your brilliance, baffle them with your b.s.

Okay, that last one may be a bit out of place, but everytime I read it I think of my husband, so I had to include it.  I mean that, of course, in the most affectionate way - I love his b.s. even more than his brilliance.

Can you come up with more?  It’s pretty fun when you get to thinking about it.

Joi

P.S. When my husband (he of equal parts brilliance and b.s.) was taking me out for coffee last night, I was doing a mental inventory of these golden cliches and quotes.  Ironically the truck in front of us had a bumper sticker that i normally wouldn’t have thought very much about.  But, given the situation, I let it sink in.  And, we should indeed all Thank a Vet.