Competition in academia is so vicious because the stakes are so small.
Many an optimist has become rich simply by buying out a pessimist.
Fortune knocks but once, but misfortune has much more patience.
Give a child enough rope and he will trip you up.
The reason crime doesn't pay is that when it does, it is called a more respectable name.
As a matter of fact is an expression that precedes many an expression that isn't.