As Many X as There Are Y

This is a fairly generic (and somewhat common) Stock Phrase that is used to describe a vastness of something by comparing it something that the speaker considers equally vast or simply innumerable on its own. Sometimes it's used to give even the ditziest of people a good idea of how numerous something is or will be. Sometimes it's used as a part of a Badass Boast (usually overlapping with I Have Many Names). Note: The phrase in question does not have to fit with the trope name, it just has to meet the previously mentioned conditions.

Sometimes the person may try to extend the analogy, leading to Metaphorgotten.

Advertising

 * MGM, back in the glory days of cinema of the 1930s, had so many actors and actress under contract that it was said to have "more stars than there are in the sky."

Anime

 * One Piece has Doctor Hogback, who is claimed by Chopper to have saved as many lives as there are stars in the night sky.
 * One Piece again, this time with Garp to a mountain thief who he's coercing into taking care of Luffy and Ace saying "I've overlooked as many crimes of yours as stars in the sky."
 * In one Pokémon movie, the narrator says, "You could try counting them, but that's like counting grains of sands at the beach."

Comic Books

 * In Lucky Luke, Luke is greeted by a native chief who wishes Luke's sons to be as numerous as the blades of grass on the prairie.

Film
"Hieronymous Grost: You see, Doctor, there are as many species of vampire as there are beasts of prey."
 * Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter

"Driver: Germany has crumbled into as many small states as there are individuals."
 * Der Himmel ? Berlin

"Ole Golly: There are as many ways to live in this world as there are people in this world."
 * Harriet the Spy

"Edmund Bertram: There are as many forms of love as there are moments in time."
 * Mansfield Park

"Kicking Bird: How many?
 * Dances with Wolves conversation in concern with white settlers moving further west:

John Dunbar: Like the stars."

"MacIntyre: (desperate to make the deal) Look, how much do you want?
 * Played with in Local Hero when Ben Knox, while walking along a beach, challenges MacIntyre with an offer to sell his (Knox's, that is) land to MacIntyre's company.

Ben Knox: (fills his hands with sand) Would you pay me a pound for every grain of sand in my hand? (some sand seeps through his fingers) Ah, well, that saves you some. Well, would you do it?

MacIntyre: No. Of course not.

Ben Knox: Ah, well that's a pity. You missed out on a good bargain, for I can only hold about ten thousand grains of sand in my hands. (MacIntyre looks skeptical) Did you think it would be more?"

Literature
"[Bagheera] said to Mowgli when they were deep in the jungle ... "Little Brother, how often have I told thee that Shere Khan is thy enemy?" "As many times as there are nuts on that palm," said Mowgli, who, naturally, could not count."
 * In American Gods, Mr. Wednesday claims he has as many names as there are way for people to die.
 * Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book:


 * In the Mullah Nasruddin stories, the Mullah sent three chests of gold to the emperor of India to pay tribute to him. In a delivery mishap, however, the messenger loses the gold and fills the chests with sand, water and rocks in that order. As the emperor opens each chest, his adviser comments on its contents. On the first two, the adviser states that the Mullah's army is as vast as the sands of the desert and the emperor has as many friends as there are drops of water in the ocean. (What he says about the rocks doesn't have to do with this trope, though.)
 * The mute but sapient bird in the Redwall book Lord Brocktree communicates by drawing. He draws stick figures in the dirt to represent a number of members of the enemy army, then taps his claws in the dust, leaving dozens of dots: "He says for each dot there's that many again. Too many for him to sketch!"
 * According to Carpe Jugulum (possibly riffing off Captain Kronos): There are as many types of vampire as there are disease; some are virulent and deadly, and some just make you walk funny and avoid fruit.

Live Action TV
"Col. Tigh: Adama, there are probably as many voids in the universe as there are ideas."
 * Battlestar Galactica (1978) episode "Lost Planet of the Gods: Part 2"


 * William Bell in the Fringe season 2 finale: "I’ve traveled between universes so many times, my atoms are ready to split apart with the slightest provocation. You taught me there are as many atoms in the human body as there are stars in the sky. That’s how many atom bombs I am."

Religion and Mythology

 * Older Than Feudalism: In The Bible, Abraham is promised as many descendants as grains of sand or stars in the sky.

Video Games
"Donald: There are as many worlds as there are stars."
 * "You see, there are more girls here than grains of sand out there. I can't keep track of 'em all!"
 * In the Kingdom Hearts manga, Donald tells this to Sora to cheer him up.


 * Also counts as a Literal Metaphor, as all those stars are actual worlds as seen from every other world.

Real Life

 * Metro Goldwyn Mayer used to boast, "More stars than there are in the heavens" when referring to the number of stars the studio had under contract.