Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

Often invoked as a corrective to over-interpretation, the line suggests that not every object, habit, or remark conceals a symbolic or unconscious meaning; some things are simply what they appear to be. In popular culture it is used to caricature Freudian analysis as relentlessly sexual or symbolic, while also offering a commonsense reminder about interpretive restraint. However, because the attribution to Freud is doubtful and the wording appears to be a later paraphrase, the quote’s significance is largely retrospective: it functions more as a commentary on “Freudian” reading practices than as a reliably documented statement of Freud’s own method.