Of the many cliches on offer everywhere, there are two in particular which strike me as being very misleading, wrong perhaps.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. This goes along with a similar bromide that says that you become stronger in the broken places.

Nonsense. Doesn't work for your body; doesn't work for your psyche. Where your ankle was broken or the ligament torn, that ankle is always subject to being re-injured. And in old age, to arthritis, especially in that location.

In childhood, injury to self-esteem or physical abuse, leaves lasting hurt, which can be mended, compensated for, but never cured. In times of stress, in old age, those early injuries can (and do) blindside you when you least expect it to happen.

Even overcompensating is a sort of injury-related disability.

Those who forget the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. No. The remembering of history can lead to mindless knee-jerk reactions just as easily as ignorance of history altogether can allow for the same unthinking actions. ("We don't want another Vietnam. Remember the Alamo. Look at what happened in Iraq.")

The need is to learn the lessons of history, take into account the current context (which is always different, even when there are similar themes) and draw thoughtful, intelligent conclusions.

I'm sure there are other misleading, harmful cliches, but these are two of my least favorite. Yours?