Nothing that we express with these words, so wickedly overworked, has the force or effectiveness of less habitually spoken, less repeatedly written words. Our familiarity with the world expands as our familiarity with words increases. What's more, these expressions, base as they are, blunt our understanding and quash our creativity. They actually shield us from our thoughts and feelings, from any profound sense of ourselves. People who use these expressions have not become who they were meant to be.
Popular prescriptions are the platitudes and proverbs by which people live their lives.
It is these dicta that determine who we are and how we act. Popular prescriptions define our intellectual and moral makeup. Dull-witted speakers and writers depend on prescriptions like these to guide them through life. For this poor populace, life is, we may surmise, laid out. From the popular or proper course, there is scant deviation.