ALL is not alway

Meaning & Analysis

Not everything remains constant; circumstances and outcomes are subject to change.

Insights

Impermanence

The proverb expresses the transient nature of life, asserting that nothing—whether success, fortune, or suffering—lasts forever. It encourages humility during prosperity and hope during hardship.

Fickleness of Fate

Suggests that what is true now may not be true later, reminding us that fate is unpredictable and beyond full human control.

Limitations of Assumptions

Warns against making assumptions based on present appearances, as reality can shift suddenly. What seems absolute today may dissolve tomorrow.

Philosophical Resonance

This terse phrase resonates with Stoic and Buddhist thought, both of which emphasize the impermanence of all things. It reflects a deep awareness of change as a fundamental condition of existence.

Folk Wisdom

The proverb belongs to a long tradition of proverbial wisdom advising moderation and foresight—akin to ‘this too shall pass’—providing comfort in adversity and restraint in success.

Temporal Relativity

Highlights how meaning and truth are often contingent on context and time. What appears 'all' in one moment may not suffice in another, undermining fixed certainties.

Rhetorical Devices

Ellipsis

The proverb omits verbs or objects, creating an open-ended, gnomic style that invites interpretation and gives it the aphoristic ambiguity common to enduring maxims.

Antithesis

Juxtaposes ‘all’ and ‘not alway’ to heighten the tension between apparent totality and temporal instability, making the expression paradoxical and memorable.

Repetition

Reuses the word ‘all’ in slightly different contexts, lending rhythm and reinforcing the contrast between absolute appearance and transient reality.

impermanencechangeuncertaintywisdomfaterelativity

Analyzed with gpt-4o on July 10, 2025

Transcription

Quotations

But all is not alway: as all men do say.

— 1562, HEY, Epig., 95, p. 215

Related Proverbs

F480 He is a FOOL that forgets himself 96.4%P522 Neither be daunted with POVERTY nor lifted up with riches 96.1%F711 Make not thy FRIEND too cheap to thee nor thyself too dear to him 96.0%F637 The FOX knows much but more he that catches him 95.7%F654 We never find that a FOX dies in the dirt of his own ditch 95.7%P27 A good PAINTER can draw a devil as well as an angel 95.7%F482 He is a FOOL that makes a wedge (mallet) of his fist 95.7%F644 He that has a FOX for his mate had need have a net at his girdle 95.7%P4 He has brought his PACK to a fit speed 95.6%F547 FOOLS will still be fools 95.5%A194 He would ALL have and nought forgo 95.5%L66 To answer one in his own LANGUAGE 95.5%F475 A FOOL will not be foiled 95.4%A261 When you are an ANVIL hold you still, when you are a hammer strike your fill 95.4%P405 It is ill PLAYING with short daggers 95.4%F215 To have one's FILL 95.3%F337 Go early to the FISH MARKET and late to the butchery 95.3%F201 Put that in the next FEW 95.3%G329 A GOOD FELLOW¹ never lost but at an ill fellow's hand 95.3%A254 Such ANSWER as a man gives, such will he get 95.3%

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