ambivalent maxims

I've listed my favorites, so now I'll list a couple of sayings that I'm confused about. The confusion comes from the double-edged nature of these ideas, as well as my ambivalence as to whether I've seen them in action in life.

1. "this too shall pass" While this can be a comforting idea when going through a difficult time, the idea is dangerous for several reasons. It can always get worse. And, even the good times don't last. I don't know that it's much of a comfort to know we will soon be done with something. I'm leaning more these days to finding the life in moments as they come, pain and all (shake out this tired notion that the best is yet to come - per Dave Matthews).
2. "what goes around comes around" Really, how do we know? I've seen more grace and good turns than any of us deserve, and I've seen some pretty lousy things happen to people who were clearly not on anything like a deserving end. Maybe this one is supposed to mean across lifetimes, in the plural opportunities for justice of reincarnation. Even that explanation is a stretch for a saying that's supposed to be about fairness and balance. I think that we do get what we put out there more often than not. I also think we catch some that has nothing to do with us.

I believe that we make sayings like the two listed above to feel like we can predict and control our life events. It is as if we are telling life when it's been bad, then we're due for good (and vice versa). And if we've done bad, we're in for bad. I just haven't seen life making deals like that. What I've seen so far is that there is a definite imbalance in life. Most of the time it's good. It's so good that we expect it to always be good and are surprised by anything bad. When the bad happens, we think we caused it because it's safer to think that we're still in control than to think that bad things just happen here and there.

The deepest counter-quip I can find to these is the old "shit happens". I'm sure that puts me squarely in a school of philosophy named "defeatest" or mysansopht or kluless. It's just what I've seen so far, is all.