I've been an engineer, and now I am an attorney. I heard an engineer say this recently, and I thought about from both prospectives. As an attorney, I must disagree because there is an assumption that is left out of the saying, if inserted changes the conclusion:

You can't push with the LENGTH of a rope, only its width; and, You can't pull with the width of a rope, only its LENGTH.

Think about placing a coil of rope between a stuck vehicle and another vehicle, as a cushion between them.