all things to all people

Meaning: (idiomatic,often construed as singular)Someone or something that entirelysatisfiestheexpectationsof everyone, no matter howdiverseandconflictingthose expectations may be.1851,Sir John William Kaye,History of the War in Afghanistan, Volume 2,page382:It was obviously his policy to appearall things to all people. He could not venture to take any decided course.1967, Barbara J. Horn, M.S.N.Ed.,Aequanimitas, University of Michigan Medical School,p. 170 (Google preview):No longer can we beall things to all people! We must decide which path to follow — are we to be physicians assistants, coordinators, supervisors, or skilled practitioners of nursing. The choice is ours!1990April 9, Paul Gray, “Grapevine: Lech Walesa and Tadeusz Mazowiecki”, inTime, retrieved21 February 2017:Most Poles realize that Solidarity cannot go on beingall things to all people: trade union, political party, shaper of the country's future.1995January 29,Todd S. Purdum, “The Nation: Underwear and All; Dignifying the Presidency”, inNew York Times, retrieved21 February 2017:Mr. Clinton is often accused of wanting to beall things to all people, but that is a classic occupational hazard of his job.2005February 26, Joanna Moorhead, “Why not leave school at 16?”, inIndependent, UK, retrieved21 February 2017:"There's also a problem about schools being expected to beall things to all people."Synonym:all things to all men

Examples:

EN: But my father says you try to be all things to all people.
ES: Pero mi padre dice que Ud. Trata de ser todo, para toda la gente.
EN: Oh wait Chuck, you can't be all things to all people.
ES: No podemos estar en todas partes al mismo tiempo.
EN: 'Cause I can assure you, sir, having been over there, only one thing occupies his thoughts this time of the year, being all things to all people, which, of course, means be nothing to no one.
ES: Porque puedo asegurarle, habiendo ocupado esa casa que él ahora sólo piensa en una cosa. En complacer a todos. Acabando, claro, sin complacer a nadie.
EN: So, all things to all people, for all seasons.
ES: Así que son todo para todas las personas y para todas las ocasiones.
EN: I mean, I appreciate the fact that you think I'm all things to all people.
ES: Digo, aprecio el hecho que pienses en mí sobre todas la cosas y personas.
EN: It's not a small claim to my client. I understand that, Richard, but we can't be all things to all people.
ES: Lo entiendo, Richard, pero no podemos hacerlo todo para todos.
EN: I mean, I try to be all things to all people - accepting, friendly, a shoulder to cry on, but I still end up being invisible.
ES: Quiero decir, que trato de serlo todo para las personas, aceptando, siendo amigable, un hombro en el que llorar, pero aún así acabo siendo invisible.
EN: We must be all things to all people.
ES: Tenemos que ser de todo para todas las personas.
EN: Who wanted to be all things to all people, Clinton, with the help of Third-party conservative independent
ES: Clinton, con la ayuda de un conservador independiente, el empresario Ross Perot, que atrajo el 19 por ciento del voto, sorprendió a George Bush.
EN: It's not all things to all people, all the time.
ES: No es lo mismo para todos, siempre.
EN: Any entertainer will tell you, it's impossible to be all things to all people.
ES: Cualquier animador te dirá que es imposible ser todo para todo el mundo.
EN: You can't be all things to all people.
ES: No puedes serlo todo para todo el mundo.
EN: Uh, you-you can't be all things to all people.
ES: Eh, usted, usted no puede ser todo para todas las personas.
EN: A tree that provides all things to all people, "but then it was cut down, destroyed."
ES: 'Un árbol que proveía a todos, pero que fue cortado, destruido'.
EN: He cannot be all things to all people, but his task will be to convince millions that he's up for the job.
ES: No puede gustar a todo el mundo, pero su tarea será convencer a millones de que está preparado para el trabajo.

Note: the examples for non latin scripts have a high likelihood of mistakes, we do not own any of this data and it is sourced from Wiktionary, the NLLB database and Opensubtitles. Please help us improve this by contributing correct examples. We will be working to fix this issue over time however it is a bigger issue due to the the difficulties in dealing with non latin scripts and grammatical structures(non-romantic/european languages have lower resources as well ).