There is not so great a FLOOD but there is as low an ebb

Meaning & Analysis

No matter how high the flood (tide) rises, it will eventually be matched by a low ebb (tide); periods of great abundance or prosperity will be followed by equally significant decline or scarcity.

Insights

Inevitability of Change

The proverb warns that extreme success, joy, or prosperity is always balanced by periods of loss, difficulty, or sorrow. High points in life are transient and will be followed by lows.

Humility in Fortune

It serves as a reminder to remain humble and prudent in good times, since reversal is a natural part of life's cycles.

Historical Symbolism

Tidal imagery was a potent symbol in early modern England for the unpredictability and rhythm of fate or fortune. The inevitability of ebb following flood embodies the wisdom of accepting both abundance and deprivation as part of the natural order.

Cultural Resonance

This proverb appears in various forms across languages and centuries, echoing the Stoic, Christian, and folk traditions that teach detachment from extremes of fortune. It aligns with other English proverbs about the reversal of fortune and the perils of unchecked elation.

Psychological Dimensions

By linking high points to inevitable lows, the proverb encourages emotional resilience and steadiness. It provides consolation in adversity (better times will come) and caution in success (beware of overconfidence or pride).

Rhetorical Devices

Antithesis

The direct contrast between 'great flood' and 'low ebb' strengthens the message, using opposites to dramatize the proverb’s central lesson.

Parallelism

The mirrored structure of the phrase makes it rhythmically memorable and rhetorically persuasive.

Metaphor

Employs the concrete, universal image of the tides to represent abstract ideas of change, reversal, and fate.

fortunechangehumilityimpermanenceresiliencecycles

Analyzed with gpt-4.1 on July 12, 2025

Transcription

Quotations

There was never so great a flood, but there may bee as low an ebbe.

— 1626, SCOGIN, Fest-Bks., II 158

Though he that the flude be great, the ebe as lowe doth rone.

— c1555, Songs and Bal. Philip and Mary, 19, p. 59

[As in c1555 Songs and Bal. Philip and Mary].

— 1557, Description Ungodly World, l. 36 in Tottel's Misc., I 197

A prouerbe to be applyed vnto those which are mery without aduisement, and afterward repent it, and as our usuall terme is: there is not so great a floude, but there is as lowe an ebbe.

— 1580, BARET, A-253

— 1616, DR., no. 48

— 1659, N.R., p. 95

— 1664, COD., p. 214

Cross References

Related Proverbs

F381 High FLOODS (Low ebbs) have low ebbs (high floods) 96.5%N89 He may well be contented who NEEDS neither borrow nor flatter 96.3%P570 The PREY entices the thief 96.0%F121 The first FAULTS are theirs that commit them, the second theirs that permit them 95.9%A194 He would ALL have and nought forgo 95.9%R102 The RICH devour the poor, the strong the weak 95.8%F38 He that FALLS today may be up again tomorrow 95.8%F120 Everyone's FAULTS are not written in their fore-heads 95.8%F231 To thrust away with the little FINGER what one pulls back with the whole hand 95.8%P404 He PLAYS well (best) that wins 95.8%F426 To fine FOLKS a little ill finely wrapped 95.7%F427 To fine FOLKS a little ill finely wrapped 95.7%P243 There is no worse PESTILENCE than a familiar enemy 95.7%F771 He that is surprised with the first FROST feels it all the winter after 95.7%F378 After a FLOOD (ebb) there comes an ebb (flood) 95.7%G352 A GOOSE cannot graze after him 95.7%L402 A borrowed LOAN should come laughing home 95.7%G299 Little GOOD soon spent 95.6%F647 An old FOX cannot be taken by a snare 95.6%F461 A FOOL is better than an obstinate man 95.5%

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