Half-Truths : What's Right (and What's Wrong) with the Cliches You and I Live By

by Brown, Montague

• ISBN13: 9781928832638
• ISBN10: 1928832636
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-06-01
• Publisher: Sophia Inst Pr

Summary

Discover the truth (and the falsehood) in the sound bites that rule so much of your life Today they're called sound bites, but they're older by far than sound bites, and they play a larger role in your life - those pithy, quotable phrases that capture in a few words the wisdom of the world: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." "Talk is cheap." "It doesn't matter what you believe, so long as you're sincere." "Love is blind." "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." In a few words - wisdom in shorthand - they speak truth won from generations of experience (and we know from our mothers that "experience is the best teacher"). They sayings survive because they work; which is why, in good times and bad, we use them to guide our actions and even to resolve intractable disputes ("Hey, let's just agree to disagree.") The problem is that most of them are not really true; they're half-truths. And when we rely on them uncritically (as we often do) they lead us out of one difficulty right smack into another. That's why philosopher Montague Brown, author of The One-Minute Philo

Table of Contents

Introduction	xi
Aphorisms
Actions speak louder than words	2	(2)
All good things come to an end	4	(2)
All men are created equal	6	(2)
Always follow your conscience	8	(2)
Always keep an open mind	10	(2)
Am I my brother's keeper?	12	(2)
Animals are just as good as we are	14	(2)
Be true to yourself	16	(2)
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder	18	(2)
Believe in yourself	20	(2)
Challenge authority	22	(2)
Chaos is king	24	(2)
Choose the lesser evil	26	(2)
Competition breeds success	28	(2)
Don't believe a thing he says	30	(2)
Don't bite off more than you can chew	32	(2)
Don't cast pearls before swine	34	(2)
Don't let school get in the way of your education	36	(2)
The end justifies the means	38	(2)
Everyone else does it	40	(2)
Everyone's got a right to his own opinion	42	(2)
Everything's determined by the laws of physics	44	(2)
Experience is the best teacher	46	(2)
Familiarity breeds contempt	48	(2)
Foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds	50	(2)
A friend in need is a friend indeed	52	(2)
Have the courage of your convictions	54	(2)
He who hesitates is lost	56	(2)
If it ain't broke, don't fix it	58	(2)
If they say so, it must be true	60	(2)
If you can't beat `em, join `em	62	(2)
If you've seen one, you've seen them all	64	(2)
Ignorance is bliss	66	(2)
It could be worse	68	(2)
It doesn't matter what you believe, so long as you're sincere	70	(2)
It's all fate	72	(2)
It's better to journey than to arrive	74	(2)
It's my life	76	(2)
It's not how much you know, but how much you care	78	(2)
It's O.K. as long as it doesn't hurt anybody	80	(2)
It's the intention that counts	82	(2)
Just be yourself	84	(2)
Let's just agree to disagree	86	(2)
Life is what you make it	88	(2)
Live and let live	90	(2)
Live for today	92	(2)
Look on the bright side	94	(2)
Look out for number one	96	(2)
Love is blind	98	(2)
Love means never having to say you're sorry	100	(2)
Make love, not war	102	(2)
Might makes right	104	(2)
My country, right or wrong	106	(2)
Necessity knows no law	108	(2)
Nice guys finish last	110	(2)
Nothing is good or bad but thinking makes it so	112	(2)
One man's heaven is another man's hell	114	(2)
Power corrupts	116	(2)
The proof is in the pudding	118	(2)
Prove it!	120	(2)
Read the signs of the times	122	(2)
Revenge is sweet	124	(2)
Rules are made to be broken	126	(2)
Seeing is believing	128	(2)
Talk is cheap	130	(2)
There's no accounting for taste	132	(2)
There's nothing new under the sun	134	(2)
Things just look different	136	(2)
Think for yourself	138	(2)
To err is human	140	(2)
Trust your feelings	142	(2)
Truth's a matter of perspective	144	(2)
Violence never solved anything	146	(2)
What is truth?	148	(2)
What's done is done	150	(2)
Whatever makes you happy	152	(2)
What will be, will be	154	(2)
When in Rome, do as the Romans do	156	(2)
Who's to judge?	158	(2)
Why trust reason, anyway?	160	(2)
You can only love others as much as you love yourself	162	(2)
You can't argue with success	164	(2)
You can't stand in the way of progress	166	(2)
You scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours	168	(3)
Persons quoted	171	(4)
Biographical note	175