What Is The Origin Of This Too Shall Pass Phrase?

2025-08-30 04:17:58 309

4 Answers

Mila
Mila
2025-09-02 21:41:45
I still smile when I hear 'this too shall pass'—my grandma used to tuck it into conversations like a little life jacket. On the origin front, it's messy but fascinating: scholars trace versions of the idea across Persian, Hebrew, and Ottoman folk traditions. In Persian the phrase shows up as 'in niz bogzarad' (این نیز بگذرد), and many believe a Persian or Sufi source helped spread the proverb through medieval storytelling.

One popular tale involves a powerful king who asks for a ring that will make him happy when he is sad and humble when he is proud; the jeweler inscribes something like 'this too shall pass' so the ruler learns impermanence. Jewish folklore has a similar story about King Solomon—sometimes the same tale migrates between cultures. In the 19th century the saying reached English readers through translations of Middle Eastern tales, and even Abraham Lincoln famously used the sentiment, saying essentially 'this, too, shall pass away.' I like how the phrase acts as a tiny philosophy: comforting in hard times, grounding in good ones, and perfect for pocket meditation when my day gets dramatic.
Nathan
Nathan
2025-09-03 19:39:03
I've dug into this while writing and chatting in forums, and what I find cool is how the phrase illustrates cultural conversation across centuries. Start with folklore: there's a well-known Jewish tale about King Solomon asking for a device or ring that would make the happy man sad and the sad man happy; the inscription is essentially 'this too shall pass.' But very similar lines exist in Persian proverbs and Sufi sayings, and linguistic historians often point to Persian-language iterations as an early source of the exact wording that later circulated in Europe.

From there the phrase moved into 19th-century English via translations of Eastern tales and sermons, then into political rhetoric—Abraham Lincoln used a version in a speech, which helped cement the saying in popular American usage. Beyond tracing origins, I enjoy how this little proverb sits at the crossroads of multiple philosophies: Stoic calm, Buddhist impermanence, and the biblical mood of 'to everything there is a season' from 'Ecclesiastes'. If you're into reading, hunting down the different retellings—Persian poets, Jewish folktale collections, and 19th-century translations—is satisfying, because each version colors the saying slightly differently.
Quinn
Quinn
2025-09-05 05:54:15
My take is more practical and a little nerdy: the exact phrase doesn't have a single neat birthplace like a modern invention. Instead, it's a traveling proverb. Versions of the sentiment appear in Persian literature, Jewish folktales (the King Solomon ring story is the headline act), and Ottoman sayings. By the 1800s English readers were picking it up from translated eastern tales, and figures like Abraham Lincoln helped popularize it in the West.

Culturally, it's one of those universal human truths—impermanence shows up in 'Ecclesiastes' and in Sufi poetry alike—so it gets reinvented a lot. I often use it as a quick reset when my gaming clan's chat heats up or when a plot twist in a book leaves me shook: a reminder that emotion is temporary and perspective shifts over time.
Kayla
Kayla
2025-09-05 06:48:02
Short and chatty: I think of 'this too shall pass' as a folk-proverb that hopped across borders. There isn't a single, definitive inventor; Persian and Hebrew traditions both claim versions, and there's that King Solomon/ring folktale that appears in Jewish storytelling. By the 1800s translations of Middle Eastern stories brought the exact wording into English, and public figures like Abraham Lincoln helped make the phrase stick.

For me it works as a tiny mantra—useful when you need perspective in a rough patch or when you catch yourself getting too pleased with a small win. It's simple, ancient-sounding, and oddly practical.
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