This, too, shall pass!

Posted by Yvonne on May 14, 2001

In Reply to: This, too, shall pass! posted by RANDALL on May 13, 2001

: : : : Wanting to know the meaning of this exactly and if it is in fact "this" and not "these"? Anyone with info would be greatly appreciated!

: : : : Ta

: : : The phrase is "This too shall pass" not "two"!
: : : I guess this difference was adding to your confusion.
: : : Your phrase means that your current predicament or situation will probably be worked out and that there probably is another one on its way.

: : From the archives:
: : THIS, TOO, SHALL PASS -- "Abraham Lincoln, in an address to the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society in 1859, said: 'It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence to be ever in view and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words, 'And this, too, shall pass away.' How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction.'

: : Scarcely a year later in his book 'The Marble Faun' Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote: 'This greatest mortal consolation, which we derive from transitoriness of all things -- from the right of saying, in every conjecture,' 'This, too, will pass away.' Obviously, it is a useful bit of all-purpose philosophy.

: : Somehow, it calls to mind a somewhat more self-serving remark that H.L. Mencken often used in reply to letters criticizing him for something he had done or written: 'Dear Sir,' Mencken would write, 'There may well be much in what you have to say. Sincerely.'" From the Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins ( HarperCollinsPublishers, New York, 1977, 1988).

: This phrase is one that the enlightened Budddha was fond of saying. It has become a dictum in Buddihism. This too shall pass - basically means that all things go to history in their own time, and something will take it's place that will also pass on to history.

: Thanks to all who posted info! Got what I needed, but if there are still any minds of useful info out there wih something to add, then please feel free!