Just came across this great comment in an article titled Let us now praise the cliche
This Article “Let us now praise…the cliche” made me mad as a wet hen. The Article-Writer thinks cliches are the best thing since sliced bread. Well, I hate to take the wind out of his sails, but I’ve got a bone to pick with him. When it comes to cliches, he’s out to lunch and needs an immediate wake-up call so he can (what else?) wake up and smell the coffee. Sure, once in a blue moon, cliches may serve to spread the word to the great unwashed. However, as a rule of thumb, cliches should usually be avoided like the plague because, after all is said and done, a lazy resort to cliches sounds the death-knell for good writing. So, would I ever take the path of least resistance and fall back on cliches? No way, Jose! Never, not even if, word-choice-wise, I was between a rock and a hard place. And, you can take that to the bank.