steelish - Duncan said -

"That thing we receive at no cost to ourselves is not valued"

I disputed that. You disputed me on the basis somebody down the line paid for it. Somebody else paying is not YOU (ie ourselves) paying is it. It is therefore no cost to you - which is what Duncan meant.

Pick an apple off the tree or pluck a flower on open public land. And saying this site is not free because you have to pay for connection. You could go to public library and use their computer. If you want to go to the ridiculous extreme you pay for the food you eat and without that food you could not visit the site because you would be dead from starvation.

If one trie to defend proverbs one will get a tough time. Better one leaves proverbs and fortune cookies out of serious discussions.

PS - Nothing in life is free is another one of these glib maxims. If a country was governed by proverbs we would be in a worse mess than we already are.