Quotes that you hate

[gostchiken]

Any religious discussion ending with "You just have to have faith" or something to that effect. Ugh. Which brings me to one of my favorite quotes "Faith is believing what you know ain't so." -Mark Twain

 

[Spencer Petersen]

For me, its that infamous JFK quote. "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." Why the hell is this popular? I thought the entire point of a non-tyranical government is to serve its people. If I wanted to support some bloated beast fat and well past its usefulness, I'd get married.

I disagree, the quote is meant to remind people that if everyone just relied on the system without actually putting anything into it it brings it down, and as members of your country it is your obligation to help one another. He doesn't say federal government, he just say country, which I see more as your fellow man than any bureaucracy.

And what do I care for a system which has nothing to offer me? Is JFK perhaps implying that I rely on the state, so I should therefore shut the fuck up and silently continue its upkeep? Well, that just sounds like the most hideous breed of blackmail.

Either way, its an ugly quote to me.

Because having a standing army and a police force as well as national infrastructure, education, social security, protection of law and all that doesn't appeal to you?

 

[Ambi]

Anyone who quotes Dawkins, Hitchens, Carlin, The Bible, or any Pope/Saint during a religious debate (unless the person in question is what is currently being discussed).

THINK FOR YOURSELVES YOU FUCKERS

Nothing wrong with thinking for yourself by reading material, logically analysing it, and appropriating relevant parts of it in debates, while giving all due credit to the original authors of the ideas.

It's different if they accept the quotes just because they perceive the person to be an authority, for example, "the bible says so it must be true!" or "Carlin was a famous comedian so maybe some of his coolness will rub off in me if I quote him" or if they try to pass off their ideas as their own.

OP:

- Any pretentious quote about individualism and being yourself.

"You laugh at me because I'm different, I laugh at you because you're all the same!"

"Look how witty and individualistic I am for buying a mass-produced t-shirt with a "funny" quote!" I wonder if anyone would but that for the sake of irony.

- "Meat is murder" No, it isn't. It just makes you look like idiots who twist the meanings of words to further their cause, and the stigma rubs off on to vegetarians who aren't dumb enough to use this slogan.

I'll probably think of some more later.

 

[Tav73]

I'm not a massive fan of quotes in general, it just seems like borrowing a spine for your argument because you were unable to provide your own.
That's when they're used in context; quotes used out of context are diabolical.

 

[l3lazec]

"If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything"

Fuck that, how else will people know when they're doing something stupid? or when I'm doing something stupid. Most of my conversations with friends revolves around insulting each other

 

[Steppin Razor]

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

It's not the quote I hate, it's the fact that everybody attributes it to Voltaire. I haven't had much chance to look into Voltaire's work, so I'll be forced to resort to Wiki to find out exactly where it comes from:

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." ("Je désapprouve ce que vous dites, mais je défendrai à la mort votre droit à le dire") - Voltaire [A]

This line comes from The Friends of Voltaire (1907) by Evelyn Beatrice Hall. It resembles the actual line "Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so too" from Voltaire's Essay on Tolerance.

 

[badgersprite]

Not a quote so much as a turn of phrase but, "It's always in the last place you look."

Well, gee, thanks for helping by telling me I'll find it where I find it.

 

[eatenbyagrue]

Anything that appears on the Plurk front page for my locale. It's all full of shitty quotes about love and life, all misspelled and with about 20x the necessary emoticons (hint: more than 1 is too many)

 

[Amy Sorel]

"Better to have loved and lost then never to have loved at all"

"God hates F*gs"

"What would Jesus do"

"If you are not with us then you are against us"

"Gingers have no souls"

"does the carpet match the curtains?"

 

[Jordi]

- "Meat is murder" No, it isn't. It just makes you look like idiots who twist the meanings of words to further their cause, and the stigma rubs off on to vegetarians who aren't dumb enough to use this slogan.

Kind of like "piracy is stealing". No it's not! It might be wrong, but stealing is something different.

I very rarely like the use of quotes in discussions. I don't care what some poet or philosopher said X hundred years ago. Chances are he was talking about something different entirely. Think for yourself! A quote is not the same thing as an argument. Perhaps these philosophers did have something worthwhile to say, but I doubt it was perfectly conveyed in some catchphrase. Unless you can explain why someone said something exactly, it is worthless to me, and if you can, then your arguments can presumably stand on their own and you don't really need the quote.

One saying I particularly hate is "where there's a will, there's a way". I don't know if you have it in English, and this is pretty literally translated from Dutch. Another way of putting it is "if you want something badly enough, there is always a way of getting it". I hate it because it suggests whenever you didn't succeed at something, you apparently didn't want it enough.

 

[Bernzz]

"FIRST!"

Dear god I hate that.

 

[Dimensional Vortex]

"In soviet Russia, Car drives you!"
"OMGWTFBBQ SAUCE!"
"FIRST!"
"That's what she said!"
I guess the forum maker intended it for the quotes to be more said by famous people and for them to be more intellectual than just internet quotes. But these internet quotes are so annoying, and what gets me is that they are just ripped off other comedy writers. It's like if someone goes out and says those four lines I mentioned all the people they're around will think they are really funny, well they aren't! They are just stealing things invented by people who are legitimately funny, and overusing them to the point were I serious start to consider hammering nails into my skull.

"God works in mysterious ways."

This is another one, its alright if your Christian, I couldn't really care, but when you try to justify why a little 6 year old girl is dying of inoperable cancer that is when I think any religion at all should sneak away before someone points out "What the fuck did my daughter do? What kind of god seriously kills 6 year old girls?"

 

[D Moness]

The only quote from..ANYTHING that makes me confused to the point of anger is the whole "Over 9000!" thing

seriously, i fucking HATE that!!!

Try anything involving chuck norris, i sooo wanna maim people that use that.

 

[Booze Zombie]

I think you missed the point of what they were saying.

They were saying, you see, turning the other cheek and preaching peace is fantastic, until you get vigorously beaten.

It's funny, then... as the entire reason most American wars are claimed to start for are the principles of democracy.

Besides, it's not meant to matter if you "win" or "lose", it's what you get in the process.
If humanity could gain immortality by losing in a battle to aliens, we'd probably go ahead and lose.

 

[Booze Zombie]

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying.

My point is that preaching peace only works up until the enemy kills you. At some point you need to fight back. I'm not condoning any of the wars or saying war is good, I'm simply saying if you don't fight back, the aggressors will kill you.

If the USA's principle's were peace, it wouldn't be involved in so much war.
So, I am confused as to how Dick Chaney could've meant that quote like that.

 

[Outright Villainy]

"Great minds think alike"

This may be true but people use it as a compliment toward themselves by trying to take it backwards. "Oh, you also thought about firing bottle rockets up you nose? Man, great minds do think alike". I started to coin "Similar minds think alike". That was stupid, tautologous, and said nothing. So I started saying "Great minds think alike iff the minds are first proven great".

Well I've often heard the addendum:

"But fools seldom differ."

That could've been the original quote even.

Edit: Wiki quote says it is, or at least uses the full quote only. So it's actually ironic that people use that phrase to boast.