What we're saying today is that you're either part of the solution or you're part of the problem.
[1968 E. Cleaver Speech (in R. Scheer, Eldridge Cleaver (1969) 32)]
‘If you're not the solution,’ says Peter Madden, ‘you're part of the problem.’ ‘It would be terribly arrogant of me to believe I was the solution to anything.’
[1975 M. Bradbury History Man v.]
Listen, don't you realize if you're not part of the solution you're part of the problem.
[1977 C. Mcfadden Serial xxvi.]
MTV used to broadcast environmental messages featuring the punchline ‘if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem’. Indeed.
[2001 New Scientist 24 Nov. 112]
Related to: assistance; trouble
Bibliography of major proverb collections and works cited from modern editions is available here.
The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs. Copyright © 1982, 1992, 1998, 2003, 2004 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
