Every MAN will have his own turn served

Meaning & Analysis

Each individual will eventually receive their due opportunity or be attended to in sequence.

Insights

Inevitability of Justice

Suggests the inevitability of cosmic justice or karma, where every person will eventually face the consequences of their actions, receiving either their deserved reward or punishment.

Cyclical Nature of Fortune

Highlights the cyclical nature of fortune and power. No one's situation is permanent; everyone will experience their moment of prominence or decline in due course.

Individual Self-Interest

Emphasizes a world driven by individual self-interest, where each person is waiting for their chance to advance their own agenda or satisfy their needs.

Patience and Opportunity

Acts as an encouragement for patience, advising that one's opportunity for success, recognition, or retribution will eventually arrive if one is prepared to wait for it.

Social and Political Undercurrents

This proverb reflects a worldview rooted in individualism and reciprocity. It can serve as both a comfort to the disadvantaged, suggesting their time for opportunity or vindication will come, and a subtle warning to the powerful that their position is not permanent.

Psychological Comfort

The proverb taps into the psychological need for a just world, where accounts are eventually settled. This belief can provide solace and encourage patience, functioning as a cognitive tool to manage feelings of envy or injustice.

Interpretive Ambiguity

The ambiguity of what 'turn' is being 'served'—whether it is a reward, a punishment, an opportunity, or merely a change of fortune—gives the proverb broad applicability and a timeless quality.

Rhetorical Devices

Deterministic Language

The use of 'will have' gives the proverb a deterministic and authoritative tone, presenting its claim not as a possibility but as an undeniable future certainty.

Ambiguity

The core phrase 'turn served' is intentionally ambiguous. It can imply a meal being served, a punishment being meted out, or an opportunity being presented, enriching its interpretive depth.

Emphatic Individualism

The phrase 'Every MAN' and 'his own' creates a strong emphasis on the individual, reinforcing the theme of personal destiny and accountability.

justicekarmainevitabilityopportunitypatienceself-interest

Analyzed with gemini-2.5-pro on August 20, 2025

Transcription

Quotations

— 1616, DR., no. 835.

Related Proverbs

W3 Mend my WAGES and I'll mend my work 91.7%M84 Command your MAN and do it yourself 91.4%M128 Every MAN keeps not his promise 91.1%M516 Few MEN and much meat make a feast 91.0%G20 When everyone gets his own you'll get the GALLOWS 90.8%M1174 In the MORNING the heights, in the evening the depths 90.8%M102 Every MAN as he loves, let him send to the cooks 90.7%M358 The poor MAN turns his cake and another comes and takes it away 90.7%H333 What is in the HEART of the sober man is in the tongue (mouth) of the drunkard 90.6%M736 MASTERS love services and not the servants 90.6%M905 MESSENGERS should neither be headed nor hanged 90.4%M401 To tell a MAN a lie and give him a reason for it 90.2%M1208 The MOTHER-IN-LAW does not remember that she has been a daughter-in-law 90.2%M988 He is gotten out of the MIRE and is fallen into the river 90.1%M970 His bashful MIND hinders his good intent 90.0%M737 MASTERS should be sometimes blind and sometimes deaf 90.0%M122 Every MAN in his way 90.0%M1160 To be MORE than he can answer 89.9%S291 To be proud (To make much) of one's painted SHEATH 89.8%W949 The WRONGS of a husband or master are not reproached 89.8%

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