“You can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs!”

In our current economic climate, and considering the price of eggs right now, the above saying might seem like heresy, but it’s still true!

I don’t know about you, but I love old sayings like these. They used to be the pepper and spice of everyday speech, but because of the over-saturation of social media, and the ever increasing gap in numbers between those who live an agrarian based lifestyle and those who don’t, we’ve lost many of them.

I’ve heard it argued that such sayings are trite and common, hopelessly outdated, repetitive, and (greatest of all insults) “not authentic.” Of course, this advice came from the same individuals, some of my college professors, who perpetuated the lofty sounding phrases of “academese” at length and often. A case of “people in glass houses who aught not throw stones,” to coin a phrase.

Both my maternal and paternal grandparents were fonts of pithy sayings like these. “Many hands make light work” and “for every old sock there’s an old shoe” being two that were oft-repeated. Each of these useful nuggets encapsulated a practical or eternal truth. And, with semi-poetic phrasing, they caught themselves in the memory and surfaced when needed.

The book of Proverbs in the Bible is a tremendous repository of such wise sayings (though of more spiritual value and emphasis), and other cultures feature proverbs and sayings as well. Proverbial sayings have carried-over from times when oral cultures were the norm, books being costly and few and far between, but they are also a convenient “life-hack.” With a cheerful dose of humor, they can help put things in perspective when we are tempted to succumb to the over-dramatic and lose all sense of proportion.

And that gets us back to “You can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.” This great saying means that (despite the ridiculously high cost of eggs) in order to do something right, there will probably be some mess, and stress, and some collateral damage, but in the end, that trail of dust or clippings or drippings means that something productive has been achieved. Maybe even something delicious!

It can also mean that a little outlay (often money) is required if you want to get something important done. Think a nest egg that allows you to fund a project that in turn might prove to be a source of income or of great help to others.

We could go on, but you can see the wisdom all tied up in that tidy, but descriptive saying. You’ll never see an egg, or an omelet, again without thinking of this bit of instruction!

What are some of your favorite “wise-sayings” or “things that grandma always said?” Let us know in the comments below, or in the comments section on Facebook when you see this post.

Keep a shiny penny and a positive thought!

Sources: “63 Sayings You Learned From Your Southern Grandma” by Southern Living editors, May 21, 2019. https://www.southernliving.com/culture/southern-grandma-sayings