Recently, a Facebook friend (someone I mean to talk to more often but rarely do) posted a link on her timeline.

The link led me to a compilation of inspirational slogans, some poster-ized with complementary graphics; some attributed to writers or motivational speakers, some not.

– Most of the shadows of this life are caused by us standing in our own sunshine.

 – Good times make wishbones.  Hard times make backbones.

 – You wanna know the difference between a master and a beginner?  The master has failed more times than the beginner has ever tried.  (These words are displayed with a rendering of Yoda from Star Wars.)

All these quotes seem like they could jump off the walls of a therapist’s waiting room.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for inspiration, but seriously….

I guess I take issue with some of these slogans simply because they are over-used.  The first time, I read “Sing like no one is listening. Love like you’ve never been hurt.  Dance like no one is watching,” it moved me close to tears.  After the hundredth exposure, I’ve found myself close to tears for a totally different reason.

And the proverb, “If life gives you lemons, make lemonade –” I’ve heard the expression so often, instead of lemonade, I’d sooner reach for a stronger beverage.

I don’t like reductionism as a general rule.  I understand the motivation to crystallize a sentiment into a short, pithy phrase, but often, these little adages can’t capture the complexity of their subject, and throwing out a catchy phrase allows people to refrain from trying to discern and communicate something that has multiple layers – a worthy pursuit in my book.

I don’t like emojis for a similar reason.  Too many people use them instead of trying to understand and communicate their own feelings.  For me, someone punctuating a remark with both a happy face and thumbs-up just doesn’t cut it as a way to express being really, really fond of something.

Some sayings poke fun at the effort to capture things in a simple phrase and I appreciate the impulse behind them.  As example, the saying “Philosophers are people who tell other people, that are much happier than they are, how to live” makes me laugh.

But so many sayings, while well-intentioned in their use, just get something wrong that is critical to understanding.  Things are often taken out of context.

In Hamlet, Polonius’s parting advice to his son, “To thine own self be true” has long been taken as an example of profundity.  In actuality, within the context of the play, this adage is meant as a trite saying from a doddering old man who fancies himself the dispenser of all things wise.

Keep calm and carry on has been embraced as a tongue ‘n cheek phrase for moving forward despite challenges.  It actually originated in Britain’s Ministry of Information during World War II as morale boosting propaganda.  It was not used, as intended, at the time.

After putting out a short series of other stoic aphorisms, this catch phrase never found its way to London’s subway stations or shop windows.  It was meant to be used only in the event of Germany actually invading British soil.

When I was in my twenties, I liked to use phrases that sounded deep but were, at their core, absurd.   To puzzled faces, I’d toss out “Just because something is obvious doesn’t mean it’s not true,” or “There are two kinds of people in the world; those who put people in two kinds and those who don’t.”

But seriously, let’s all lighten up!

After a workday, where I might have rearranged a lot of appointments in my Outlook calendar or spent an hour in a conference room decorated with framed posters depicting men involved in extreme sports like mountain-climbing, or white-water rafting, featuring a single-word headline like ATTITUDE or TEAMWORK, I like to have a cocktail.

At home, I’ll take out a favorite spirit or pour a glass of Syrah and place my cocktail on my Confucius coaster, the one that says I never said all that shit, and I’ll smile.

Surrounding yourself with little things that make you laugh is no small thing.