What is a common quote or saying that makes no sense? Please explain why you think so.

Share a common quote or saying that makes no sense. Please explain why you think so.
For example, "you're only as young as you feel."

The saying is, at best, ambiguous - at worst, dangerously misleading.

How one feels is not merely a matter of optimism or magical thinking;
it's far more likely to be an objective indicator of good health.

Research shows that people's chronological age is often very different to their real physical age.
A fit sixty-year-old can have the bone density, heart-rate and energy of a forty-year-old,
while an obese forty-year-old can have diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.

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Rose0415 · 36-40, F

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt." We all know that words do hurt and that is not true at all.

nedkelly · 61-69, M

@Rose0415 You can add a new meaning - Sticks and stones may break my bones, but whips and chains excite me 😁

hartfire

@Rose0415 Three cheers! I'm so glad to hear someone acknowledge that!:)

I speculate that it goes back to a time when parents had no idea how to soothe their kids when they came home from school miserable from being bullied, and the parents were trying (impotently) to teach their kids to develop a thick skin, or at least pretend to have one. It might have been used more often in military families, where hazing in the barracks was probing for weaknesses in the team and forcing soldiers to toughen up.

It's a bullies refrain used to try to justify bullying. Tragic.

hartfire

@Rose0415 This is the third time this saying has been mentioned in this topic.
I'm really happy to see so many question and object to it. It suggests that perhaps we are starting to think more carefully about how we relate with one another. :)