Cliché vs. cliché

[AuntShecky]

Why do our well-known words of wisdom seem so wishy-washy? When grouped together, they flip-flop and shilly-shally. Hence comes this game:

how many PAIRS of propitious precepts, contradictory platitudes, and antipodal adages can you think of? Let two warring mottoes go mano a mano and let the-- ahem-- chips fall where they may. (If nothing else, we can get the clichés out of our systems so they won't as readily infiltrate our writing.)

Here are a few pairs to get you started:

"Too many cooks spoil the broth" BUT "Many hands make light work."

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again" BUT
(According to one definition of insanity) doing the same thing the same way over and over and expecting a different result."

"Birds of a feather flock together" BUT "Opposites attract."

[djy78usa]

If "knowledge is power," but "power corupts," does knowledge corrupt?

[DickZ]

Gee, Auntie, you sure can come up with some creative and imaginative thought-provoking ideas. Here are a few pairs that qualify - I hope:

A fool and his money are soon parted, BUT it's better to give than to receive.

OR

Look before you leap BUT desperate times call for desperate measures.

OR

All good things come to him who waits BUT the early bird gets the worm.

[AuntShecky]

"He who hesitates is lost," BUT "Slow and steady wins the race."

"Early to bed and early to rise/Makes a man happy, healthy, and wise," BUT "Eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die."

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth," BUT "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts."

[DickZ]

A little learning is a dangerous thing BUT ignorance is bliss

Absence makes the heart grow fonder BUT out of sight, out of mind

Strike while the iron is hot BUT if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen