If you’re not part of the solution you’re part of the precipitate.

A chemistry pun that riffs on the older saying about being “part of the solution” versus “part of the problem,” substituting the chemistry meaning of “solution” and the idea of a “precipitate” forming out of solution. The earliest located appearance is in a 1969 University of Alberta student newspaper header with no credited author; later it circulated as graffiti and was reused in fiction and joke collections, sometimes with famous-name attributions.

It jokes that if you aren’t contributing constructively (“part of the solution”), you’ll end up as something unwanted that drops out of the mixture (“the precipitate”), blending social commentary with a chemistry concept.

If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the precipitate.

You’re either part of the solution, or you’re part of the precipitate.