"Don’t you love this sort of pithy proverb? You can toss the platitude to a teenager whose friends you don’t approve of with the assurance that its truth is indisputable and needs no context – exactly the way we like our favorite Bible verses.     

Because the maxim is simple to understand and examples of its truth abound, it was a perfect topic for an essay assignment for my writing class. Since I asked my class to contemplate the saying, I thought I should do the same. What, precisely, do the few words mean? Do they have anything to say to me?"