In IT setups one can hear many idioms, sayings and other type of words of wisdom that make the audience smile, even if some words seem to rub salt in the wounds. These are some of the idioms met in IT meetings or literature. Frankly, it's worth to write more about each of them, and this it the purpose of the "project". By making the below list, memories of various situations flashed though my mind.
"A bad excuse is better than none"
"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush": a working solution is worth more than hypothetically better solutions.
"A drowning man will clutch at a straw": a drowning organization will clutch to the latest hope
"A friend in need (is a friend indeed)":
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step"
"A little learning is a dangerous thing"
" A nail keeps a shoe, a shoe a horse, a horse a man, a man a castle" (cca 1610): A nail keeps the shoe
"A picture is worth a thousand words"
"A stitch in time (saves nine)"
"Actions speak louder than words"
"All good things must come to an end"7
"All roads lead to Rome"
"All is well that ends well"
"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"
"Another day, another dollar"
"As you sow so shall you reap"
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder"
"Better late than never"
"Better safe than sorry": Deleting obsolete companies
"Big fish eat little fish"
"Better the Devil you know (than the Devil you do not)":
"Calm seas never made a good sailor"
"Count your blessings"
"Dead men tell no tales"
"Do not bite the hand that feeds you"
"Do not change horses in midstream"
"Do not count your chickens before they are hatched"
"Do not cross the bridge till you come to it"
"Do not judge a book by its cover"
"Do not meet troubles half-way"
"Do not put all your eggs in one basket"
"Do not put the cart before the horse"
"Do not try to rush things; ignore matters of minor advantage" (Confucius): A tale of two cities II
"Do not try to walk before you can crawl"
"Doubt is the beginning, not the end, of wisdom"
"Easier said than done"
"Every cloud has a silver lining"
"Every little bit helps"
"Every picture tells a story"
"Failing to plan is planning to fail": Planning correctly misunderstood...
"Faith will move mountains"
"Fake it till you make it"
"Fight fire with fire"
"First impressions are the most lasting"
"First things first"
"Fish always rots from the head downwards"
"Fools rush in (where angels fear to tread)" (Alexander Pope, "An Essay on Criticism", cca. 1711): A tale of two cities II
"Half a loaf is better than no bread"
"Haste makes waste"
"History repeats itself"
"Hope for the best, and prepare for the worst"
"If anything can go wrong, it will" (Murphy's law)
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it.": Approaching a query
"If you play with fire, you will get burned"
"If you want a thing done well, do it yourself"
"Ignorance is bliss"
"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery"
"It ain't over till/until it's over"
"It is a small world"
"It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness"
"It is never too late": A look back, All-knowing developers are back...
"It's a bad plan that admits of no modification." (Publilius Syrus): Planning Correctly Misunderstood I
"It’s not an adventure until something goes wrong." (Yvon Chouinard): Documentation - Lessons learned
"It is not enough to learn how to ride, you must also learn how to fall"
"It takes a whole village to raise a child"
"It will come back and haunt you"
"Judge not, that ye be not judged"
"Kill two birds with one stone"
"Knowledge is power, guard it well"
"Learn a language, and you will avoid a war" (Arab proverb)
"Less is more"
"Life is what you make it"
"Many hands make light work"
"Moderation in all things"
"Money talks"
"More haste, less speed"
"Necessity is the mother of invention"
"Never judge a book by its cover"
"Never say never"
"Never too old to learn"
"No man can serve two masters"
"No pain, no gain"
"No plan ever survived contact with the enemy.' (Carl von Clausewitz): Planning Correctly Misunderstood I
"Oil and water do not mix"
"One man's trash is another man's treasure"
"One swallow does not make a summer"
"Patience is a virtue"
"Practice makes perfect"
"Practice what you preach"
"Prevention is better than cure"
"Rules were made to be broken"
"Seek and ye shall find"
"Some are more equal than others" (George Orwell, "Animal Farm")
"Spoken words fly away, written words remain." ["Verba volant, scripta manent"]: Documentation - Lessons learned
"Strike while the iron is hot"
"The best defense is a good offense"
"The bigger they are, the harder they fall"
"The devil is in the detail": More on SQL Databases, The Analytics Marathon, The Choice of Tools in PM, Who Messed with My Data?
"The die is cast"
"The exception which proves the rule"
"The longest journey starts with a single step"
"The pursuit of perfection is a fool's errand"
"There are two sides to every question"
"There is no smoke without fire"
"There's more than one way to skin a cat" (cca. 1600s)
"There is no I in team"
"There is safety in numbers"
"Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it" (George Santayana)
"Time is money"
"To learn a language is to have one more window from which to look at the world" (Chinese proverb)[5
"Too little, too late"
"Too much of a good thing"
"Truth is stranger than fiction"
"Two birds with one stone": Deleting sequential data...
"Two heads are better than one": Pair programming
"Two wrongs (do not) make a right"
"United we stand, divided we fall"
"Use it or lose it"
"Unity is strength"
"Variety is the spice of life." (William Cowper)
"Virtue is its own reward"
"Well begun is half done"
"What does not kill me makes me stronger"
"Well done is better than well said"
"What cannot be cured must be endured"
"What goes around, comes around"
"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade"
"When the cat is away, the mice will play"
"When the going gets tough, the tough get going"
"Where there is a will there is a way"
"With great power comes great responsibility"
"Work expands so as to fill the time available"
"You are never too old to learn": All-Knowing Developers are Back in Demand?
"You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink"
"You cannot make an omelet without breaking eggs"
"(You cannot) teach an old dog new tricks"
"You must believe and not doubt at all": Believe and not doubt
"Zeal without knowledge is fire without light"
References:
[1] Wikipedia (2024) List of proverbial phrases [link]
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