Jimmy Buffet once wrote a C-list (on the B-side of the album) tune entitled "Clichés".
The tag line in that musical poem collection was:
"Cliches: Good ways to say what you mean and mean what you say."

Here's a starter that actually applies in reality:
"A Watched Pot Never Boils."

Here are a couple 'o more of 'em:
"The Grass is Always Greener on The Other Side of The Fence."
"Haste Makes Waste."

So . . . What are YOUR Favorite [bumperstickerarian] Words o' Wisdom?

edited to add: The Only Bumpersticker I Ever Bought and Applied:
"Mean People Make Little Mean People"

Looks like we need a little more input here. How about "A burning bush gathers no dogs."

I always hated "You can't have your cake and eat it too"

Then WTF is the point of the cake Mom?!

That one used to bother me, too, but ultimately it became clear that in this instance "have" means "keep" rather than "get" (it can mean either). If you think of it as "you can't KEEP your cake and eat it too," it makes sense.

Expectation in others leads to disappointment in ones self.

Expectation in others leads to disappointment in ones self.

This one isn't all that old, but I think about it a lot, lately. "The cake is a lie."

"it's not going to get any greener" I don't know if this is old or just something I pulled out of my head. Used when you are behind somebody at a light and they are doing everything but paying attention to traffic flow. Can be substitute with "that's the only shade of green it comes in" or "waiting for the pole to turn green?". These are used at a higher volume and laced with profanity depending on who is in the car with me.

Maybe not a cliche, per se, but I get a chuckle out of the favorite word du jour uttered by my daughter and many of her second-grade peers: LITERALLY.

So when I recently came across this, I LITERALLY laughed out loud:

What it means when you say "literally" - The Oatmeal (http://theoatmeal.com/comics/literally)

Maybe not a cliche, per se, but I get a chuckle out of the favorite word du jour uttered by my daughter and many of her second-grade peers: LITERALLY.

So when I recently came across this, I LITERALLY laughed out loud:

What it means when you say "literally" - The Oatmeal (http://theoatmeal.com/comics/literally)

xkcd: Literally (http://xkcd.com/725/)

Maybe not a cliche, per se, but I get a chuckle out of the favorite word du jour uttered by my daughter and many of her second-grade peers: LITERALLY.

So when I recently came across this, I LITERALLY laughed out loud:

What it means when you say "literally" - The Oatmeal (http://theoatmeal.com/comics/literally)

Turnpup,
I think it was Katie Couric (correct me if I'm mixed up) that said that smoke was literally coming out of his ears. I don't remember who she was referring to, but that doesn't matter.
C. T.

"Remember The Golden Rule: He Who Has The Gold Rules."
(and, every time I hear that one I think of King Midas =)
(why . . . he was so rich he couldn't even eat cake no matter how much he had. =)

"it's not going to get any greener" I don't know if this is old or just something I pulled out of my head. Used when you are behind somebody at a light and they are doing everything but paying attention to traffic flow. Can be substitute with "that's the only shade of green it comes in" or "waiting for the pole to turn green?". These are used at a higher volume and laced with profanity depending on who is in the car with me.

On more than one occasion, I have said: "Are you waiting for a particular shade?" (generally followed with the qualifier, a**hole.)

Usually in a loud and harsh tone of voice, yet never stooping to hanging my head out the driver's side window nor resorting to smashing in the driver's side window of the car ahead of me with a crowbar or tire iron so I could be sure he got the message.

p.s.: Rest Easy: It IS old and you pulled it out of your head. =)
"The Older the Violin, The Sweeter The Music."

In light of the weather, here are a couple of weather related. It is "hotter than a 2 peckered goat". And, it is "colder than a witches tit". And, it is "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey".

And, it is "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey".

Actually, a naval saying referring to the item that was nailed into the deck to hold cannon balls in place near the cannon: a brass monkey. When it got cold enough, the brass would contract (more than the balls) and, depending on how the cannon balls were stacked, they'd roll away.

You can't kill rooster.

Actually, a naval saying referring to the item that was nailed into the deck to hold cannon balls in place near the cannon: a brass monkey. When it got cold enough, the brass would contract (more than the balls) and, depending on how the cannon balls were stacked, they'd roll away.

Dubya,
You might want to go to Snopes.com, this is one of the "old wives tales" and snopes calls it "False".
C. T.

Maybe not a cliche, per se, but I get a chuckle out of the favorite word du jour uttered by my daughter and many of her second-grade peers: LITERALLY.

So when I recently came across this, I LITERALLY laughed out loud:

What it means when you say "literally" - The Oatmeal (http://theoatmeal.com/comics/literally)

TvlWZ3mODJA

Speaking of Cold. It's colder than a well diggers ass.
Now some mentioned a monkey? It's half past the monkeys ass quarter to his balls.

Don't hardly ever hear these anymore.

In light of the weather, here are a couple of weather related. It is "hotter than a 2 peckered goat". And, it is "colder than a witches tit". And, it is "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey".

Are you sure it wasn't: "Colder than a 2 Pickarded Goat"? =)

How about . . . "How Do I Love Thee? Let me count the Ways/Wheys/Weighs"?

Speaking of Cold. It's colder than a well diggers ass.
Now some mentioned a monkey? It's half past the monkeys ass quarter to his balls.

Don't hardly ever hear these anymore.

Can you even begin to imagine how cold a well digger's ass was? Not to mention the ass of a well digger. =) Wordplay and Semantics. Better than Crosswords and Sudoku. (imho)

Expectation in others leads to disappointment in ones self.

That one sorta reminds me of a quip I once developed: "If you ever feel I let you down you set your expectations too high."
I think it may have had something to do with integrity as compared to self-esteem in relationship to reality.
Or sumpin' like that thar. =)

Dubya,
You might want to go to Snopes.com, this is one of the "old wives tales" and snopes calls it "False".
C. T.

Why do Old Wives spend so much time spinning tales?

The welldigger, and the witch with the chilly bosom, have been discussed here:

dustbury.com » By the bewbs of the sorceress (http://www.dustbury.com/archives/19974)

you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.

Stop and smell the roses.

Like many people, I learned this too late in life. I created my own variant of this which I say a lot: Some people are alive and some people live. When you die and your friends or relatives say you had a good 'work ethic' - you lost. Man was not put on earth to toil away endlessly giving maximum effort to make someone else wealthy, or even our selves wealthy. We were put here to enjoy the world God made for us. Our goal should be to work just hard enough to survive and dedicate the rest of our time to the enjoyment of friends, family, and nature. I have often asked, do you know why the Spanish work 20 hours per week? The answer is because they can.

you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.

I worked for a man who modified this: "well, you can. You just have to shove his nose in the water and suck real hard on ..." the other end.
He also had a saying on the wall to his office: "Eat a live frog every morning and the rest of the day will be better by comparison."

" You can't beat that for sniffing burlap"

Who'd a thunkit?

Hooda and her sister Ida lived down the street from me.

"eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die" for me it means enjoy every minute of the day because you never know when you're going to croak.