Have you ever noticed there’s conflicting sayings for every situation and every point of view?
When someone you care about goes on a long trip, a friend might comfort you by saying “Absence makes the heart grow fonder”. On the other hand, when you end a relationship with a toxic partner, the same friend might say “Out of sight, out of mind”. These two conflicting sayings are somehow both true so you can choose the one that reinforces whatever you believe.
Here are 10 conflicting sayings which you can use in the same situation:
| Knowledge is power. | vs | Ignorance is bliss. |
| It’s better to be safe than sorry. | vs | Nothing ventured, nothing gained. |
| Birds of a feather flock together. | vs | Opposites attract. |
| The best things in life are free. | vs | There’s no such thing as a free lunch. |
| Look before you leap. | vs | He who hesitates is lost. |
| Many hands make light work. | vs | Too many cooks spoil the broth. |
| The early bird gets the worm. | vs | Haste makes waste. |
| You’re never too old to learn. | vs | You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. |
| Don’t judge a book by its cover. | vs | Clothes make the person. |
| The squeaky wheel gets the grease. | vs | Silence is golden. |
What do we make of these contradictions? As the Nobel Prize winning physicist Niels Bohr roughly said, “The opposite of a fact is falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth.” In other words, the sayings can both provide insight into a difficult situation and also conflict with each other.
Apparently you can have your cake and eat it too.
Let me know about other simultaneously conflicting sayings in the comments.
JB – here are few sport themed profound but contradictory statements that came to mind:
1. “Be quick, but don’t hurry.”
2. “To go fast, you must slow down.”
3. “You have to lose, it’s the way most learn how to win.”
4. “The best offense is a good defence.”
5. “Learn to play within the rules so you can learn how to bend them.”
6. “The more you train, the luckier you get.”
7. “Fear failure but don’t be afraid to fail.”
8. “Confidence comes from humility.”
Ritchie, this is another category — sayings which conflict with themselves. Well done.