Day 171: Principles

I was thinking about principles earlier this morning. Like the one, "Less is more." And less IS more 99% of the time. (In the case of clothing more is better, just sayin'.) I'm grateful for principles, those little pithy phrases that influence my choices. I'm wondering what other one(s) I may use as often as I do "less is more" and I'm not sure if there is another I quote, and live by, as much. The principle of "less is more" has guided my life in several areas, it has shone a light on dark corners in my life, it has taught me a lot about the value of simplicity, streamlining, etc. It's truly a principle in my life and I'm ever so grateful for those! What about you? What principle has influenced your life?

Comments

Call it a Day

The literal use of this phrase hails from 1838 when the phrase originally was "call it half a day" to mean leaving work early. (source) The modern use of the phrase is to indicate ending something due to false sense of accomplishment.

More bang for your buck

This phrase was used a lot in 1953 but an earlier citation puts it at 1940 in a Metals and Plastics Publications advertisement. Read about it here . The phrase means you get more for your money.

Butter someone up

There are two probable origins for this idiom and I think both are equally plausible. The first one is that when you spread butter on bread you are buttering it up like one would do when trying to flatter someone. The second is in ancient India there was a practice of throwing balls of butter at statues to ask for favor, i.e. buttering them up. ( source ) When we use the phrase today we generally mean that extreme flattery is used to gain information or favor. It's not always necessarily a compliment.

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