Meaning & Analysis
I am not the first person to experience this, and I will not be the last; others have been in my situation before, and more will follow.
Insights
Shared Human Experience
The proverb expresses the universality of suffering, disappointment, or misfortune, reminding us that individual troubles are part of the broader human condition.
Comfort in Company
It serves to console, suggesting solace is found in the knowledge that others have faced—and survived—similar hardships.
Acceptance and Resilience
Implies the wisdom of accepting one’s difficulties with equanimity, recognizing that they are neither unique nor unprecedented, which encourages endurance and perspective.
Historical and Literary Resonance
The sentiment recurs throughout literature, from Shakespeare’s plays to early modern prose, reflecting an enduring psychological strategy for coping with adversity by situating oneself within a continuum of human experience.
Psychological Relief
The proverb taps into the cognitive bias that suffering feels lighter when shared, or at least not unique. Misery loves company, and communal recognition helps diminish the sting of isolation.
Collective Identity
By invoking a sense of collective fate, the proverb fosters humility and solidarity, subtly challenging the tendency to dramatize one's own hardships as singular.
Rhetorical Devices
Antithesis
The opposition of ‘first’ and ‘last’ structures the proverb, reinforcing its meaning through symmetry and rhetorical balance.
Allusion
Frequently alluded to in literature, the phrase gains weight through its accumulation of cultural and emotional associations.
Ellipsis
Omission of specifics makes the proverb universally applicable—anyone can supply their own context of adversity or disappointment.
Transcription
Quotations
And yet why should I take it so grievously; am I the first that have been so served?
Well, I am not the first honest man that hath been cast away; and I hope shall not be the last.
And thinke your selfe Are not the first that thus haue bin deceiv'd.
Hee is not the first that hath beene ill spoken of.
I am not alone by my self; not the first that did it, nor shall be the last.
Shakespeare Citations
Tush, women have been captive ere now.
It easeth some, though none it ever cured, To think their dolour others have endur'd.
Am I the first that have been perjur'd so?
Thoughts tending to content flatter themselves That they are not the first of fortune's slaves.
We are not the first Who with best meaning have incurr'd the worst.
Cross References
- See T. 237, p. 152.
- C571 It is good to have company in trouble (misery).
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
Used under CC BY-NC 3.0.