Question: I have often heard the sentence

> 
> Bread, you know it makes sandwiches
> 
> 
> 

in various contexts - as a painting on a wall in a living room or in a motivational book.

What is the meaning of it?

Answer: 
The quote is 

> 
> Bread. You know it makes sandwiches.
> 
> 
> 

from the 2006 book *[Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite](http://www.scribd.com/doc/6384790/Think-the-Opposite)*, a collection of business and creative advice (of mixed reviews) by former Saatchi and Saatchi creative director Paul Arden.

You need context to make sense of it; it is intended to be an illustration of the preceding pages:

> 
> Having too many ideas is not always a good thing. It's too easy to move on to the next one … and the next one to the next one… If you don't have many ideas, you have to make those you do have work for you. Bread. You know it makes sandwiches.
> 
> 
> 

In other words, even if you cannot think of a thousand different uses for bread, you know of one, and can profit from that knowledge somehow.
"Bread" in this context means "money."

The statement is usually made in the context of "self-help and actualization" and is saying that money is not a bad thing but rather something which one needs to flourish (eat/survive/grow).

See, for instance, [this slide show](http://www.slideshare.net/ppferreira/think-the-opposite) (slides 55-60).

To paraphrase those slides:

Make your ideas work for you--**Bread. You know it makes sandwiches.** For a creative person, don't think about technique, think about money.