"Sometimes you eat the bear..." (1904); "Tools of Ignorance"

[Kim & Rima McKinzey]

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>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       "Yerkes, Susan" <SYerkes at EXPRESS-NEWS.NET>
>Subject:      Re: "Sometimes you eat the bear..." (1904); "Tools of Ignorance"
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>How about "Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the
>fly/bug"? Surely that's a much later, but parallel phrase.

I've heard more frequently, "Sometimes you're the bird, sometimes
you're the statue."  I don't remember when I first heard it, though.

Rima