exist
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(well,) pardon me for existing!
An angry, exasperated response to a criticism or rebuke that one feels is unwarranted or unjustified, especially since they believe they did something very minimal or nothing at all. A: "Would you please just sit down and stop getting in my way?" B: "Well, pardon me for existing!" You don't need to get so upset, I was just suggesting you ask for directions. Pardon me for existing! Well, pardon me for existing! I was just trying to be nice—you can get your own coffee next time.
exist (from) hand to mouth
To survive or continue to operate with only the bare minimum of money, food, or resources to, having little or nothing else to spare. I existed from hand to mouth during most of college, since I could only get part-time jobs that paid minimum wage. The company has already been existing hand to mouth for the last two years. If we don't do something to improve sales soon, it will be forced to close down completely.
exist on borrowed time
To live or exist in a temporary and/or tenuous position, which may come to an end suddenly and abruptly. The small aboriginal population has been existing on borrowed time since the invaders began colonizing their land. Accidents and disease can strike so unexpectedly that it feels like we're all existing on borrowed time.
if God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him
proverb A sentiment expressed by 18th-century French philosopher Voltaire that emphasizes the human need to believe in a divine being. People can't help it—they need something bigger than themselves to believe in, so if God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.
live from hand to mouth
To be extremely poor, having only enough money to provide food and shelter each month. I had to live from hand to mouth during most of college, since I could only get part-time jobs that paid minimum wage.
pardon me for living/breathing/existing/etc.
An angry, exasperated response to a criticism or rebuke that one feels is unwarranted or unjustified, especially since they believe they did something very minimal or nothing at all. (Any verb that approximately means "living" can be used after "for.") A: "Would you please just sit down and stop getting in my way?" B: "Well, pardon me for breathing!" You don't need to get so upset, I was just suggesting you ask for directions. Pardon me for living!
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.
Prov. People need a deity to worship. (This is an English translation of a quote from Voltaire. It is often parodied, using a person's name instead of God and implying that the person is somehow necessary.) The atheist tried to convince Jerry that God does not exist, and that people should not waste their time worshiping Him. "But you can't stop people from worshiping God," Jerry replied. "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him." The unscrupulous mayor was such a convenient scapegoat for the city's problems that if she had not existed, it would have been necessary to invent her.
live from hand to mouth
Fig. to live in poor circumstances. When both my parents were out of work, we lived from hand to mouth. We lived from hand to mouth during the war. Things were very difficult.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
live from hand to mouth
orlive hand-to-mouth
COMMON Someone who lives from hand to mouth or lives hand-to-mouth always struggles to afford the things they need. I have a wife and two children and we live from hand to mouth on what I earn. I just can't live hand-to-mouth, it's too frightening. Note: Hand-to-mouth is also used before nouns to describe a situation where someone struggles to afford what they need. Unloved and uncared-for, they live a meaningless hand-to-mouth existence.
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
hand to mouth, exist/live from
Living with a minimum of sustenance or support. This term, which dates from about 1500, implies that one has so little to live on that whatever comes to hand is consumed. “I subsist, as the poor are vulgarly said to do, from hand to mouth,” wrote the poet William Cowper (1790).
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer