Sunday, June 10, 2012

Another New Expression Coined...


There is the wise saying:  "One who fights and runs away, may live to fight another day".

Today I came up with something that's closely related, but perhaps with a little more Victorian-style dash(?^), and it goes:  "Vengeance is a luxury the dead cannot afford".

Imagine that line spoken by the head of a small clan that's just seen its territory overrun by a dastardly enemy, and whose people are torn between two cruel choices:  mass suicide, or being taken into brutal slavery.  I think it would be a nice fit in a novel by Dumas or Sabatini^.

IN THE REAL WORLD, COWARDICE IS SURVIVAL-ENHANCING

I suppose a more pithy, snappy version is possible for the internet age -- imagine Schwarzenegger's T-800 Terminator wisecracking "Dead humans can't shoot back" (pity that it's been reprogrammed not to kill humans).

Of course, that version carries a somewhat different meaning.  It's gone from defiance to a kind of satisfied gloating --  the difference is even more obvious in this Mafia movie version:    "A dead man can't get even".  How about that^.

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