every stick has two ends

English

Proverb

every stick has two ends

1. Every situation has two sides.
   • 1918, Basil Gourko, Memories and Impressions of War and Revolution in Russia 1914-1917, →OCLC, page 167:

     But every stick has two ends, says a Russian proverb, and if the chemical shells helped the Germans, so, by and by, when we and our Allies began to adopt them, they caused also a great deal of damage to the Germans .

   • 1964, United States Central Intelligence Agency, Daily Report, Foreign Radio Broadcasts: Issues 21–22, →OCLC, page BB10:

     Apparently forgetting the times in which we live, the U.S. defense secretary, far from advocating mutual disarmament, called on America to increase its strength so as to be able to destroy the socialist countries both singly and combined. We scarcely need point out that this bellicose call by a representative of the Pentagon is fraught with great danger and above all, to America itself. Every stick has two ends.

   • 2005, Michael Ray, The Highest Goal: the Secret That Sustains You in Every Moment, →ISBN, page 82:

     The saying “every stick has two ends” is apropos here. Every situation has an upside and downside, and the bigger the stick, the bigger the ends.

See also

• there are two sides to every question