Sentence:  Semiramis was the first woman to invent eunuchs and women have had sympathy for them ever since; ... and women can tell them what they can't tell other men. And Ivor, suddenly cheered by laughing at his absurd <WSD>platitudes</WSD>, and finding himself by the door, was going from the room. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  An often-quoted saying that is supposed to be meaningful but has become unoriginal or hackneyed through overuse; a cliché.