Cliché quotes and common sayings are popular for a reason. They tend to be meaningful phrases that ring so true they’re repeated over and over until they become predictable and, well, stale. Tired and overused, clichés lack originality, and the trenchant message they impart can become diluted in the process.
Because these popular quotes are so ubiquitous, we tend to turn to them when looking for inspiration. They may be wise words imparted by luminary writers, artists, politicians, or religious leaders, or anonymous proverbs and common sayings with unknown origins. In any case, there is often a lesser known but equally moving maxim to be found.
Here, we’ve compiled some of the most popular overused quotes, along with an alternative that expresses a similar message — but with a touch more originality.
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Live every day like it's your last.Unknown
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Let us have wine and women, mirth and laughter, sermons and soda water the day after.Lord Byron
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If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.Unknown
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Freedom is what you do with what has been done to you.Jean-Paul Sartre
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Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain.Vivian Greene
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What matters most is how well you walk through fire.Charles Bukowski
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Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today.James Dean
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Follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.Franz Kafka
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Keep calm and carry on.British World War II propaganda
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In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: It goes on.Robert Frost
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You can’t please everyone.John Lydgate
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Do what you feel in your heart to be right – for you’ll be criticized anyway.Eleanor Roosevelt
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If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.Dolly Parton
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You cannot find peace by avoiding life.Virginia Woolf
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Everything happens for a reason.Unknown
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Realize that if a door closed, it’s because what was behind it wasn’t meant for you.Mandy Hale
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That which does not kill us makes us stronger.Friedrich Nietzsche
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But he that dares not grasp the thorn / Should never crave the rose.Anne Brontë
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It’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.Marilyn Monroe
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Normality is a paved road: It’s comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow.Vincent van Gogh
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Dance like nobody is watching.William W. Purkey
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Those who dance are thought to be insane by those who can't hear the music.Friedrich Nietzsche
Featured image credit: Sama Hosseini/ Unsplash
