Meaning & Analysis
A person's state of happiness ('weal') or misery ('woe') is not determined by their external circumstances but by their own internal perception and judgment of their situation.
Insights
Subjectivity of Reality
The proverb argues that reality is subjective. Our internal mindset is the primary filter through which we experience the world, meaning our happiness or sorrow is a product of our interpretation, not objective fact.
Mind Over Matter
It champions the concept of 'mind over matter,' suggesting that mental and emotional resilience can triumph over physical hardship or misfortune. Happiness is presented as a choice or a cultivated skill rather than a reaction to external events.
Personal Responsibility for Happiness
This idea places the responsibility for one's emotional state squarely on the individual. It suggests that we are the architects of our own contentment or despair, regardless of the hand fate deals us.
Stoic Philosophy
This proverb encapsulates a central tenet of Stoic philosophy, famously articulated by Shakespeare in 'Hamlet': 'There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.' It posits that external events are neutral, and our internal judgments or perceptions are what assign them value and create our emotional reality.
Psychological Agency
The proverb is a powerful expression of an internal locus of control, anticipating modern psychological concepts like cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and positive psychology. It suggests that individuals have agency over their own well-being by choosing how to interpret their circumstances.
Critique of Materialism
While empowering, the proverb can also carry a subtle critique of social determinism. By locating happiness within the individual's mind, it implicitly challenges the idea that wealth, status, or external conditions are the sole determinants of a good life, a theme echoed in Spenser's 'It is the mynd that maketh good or ill'.
Renaissance Humanism
The consistent appearance of this idea in Renaissance literature (Lyly, Spenser, Shakespeare) reflects a humanist emphasis on the power of the individual mind and the importance of self-reflection and mental fortitude in navigating a chaotic world.
Rhetorical Devices
Antithesis
The direct contrast between 'weal' (well-being) and 'woe' (misery) creates a stark, memorable binary that effectively frames happiness as a conscious choice between two opposing states.
Parallelism
The proverb's balanced structure—'is weal or woe' paralleled with 'as he thinks himself so'—creates a rhythmic, aphoristic quality that enhances its authority and memorability.
Archaism
The use of the archaic terms 'weal' and 'woe' lends the proverb a sense of timeless, classical wisdom, elevating it from simple advice to a profound philosophical statement.
Transcription
Quotations
For what hurteth the the peoples hissing, as long as thou clappest thy selfe on the backe?
It is the disposition of the thought that altereth the nature of the thing.
So that our opinion (as Sextus Empiricus affirmeth) giues the name of good or ill to euery thing.
It is the mynd that maketh good or ill, That maketh wretch or happie, rich or poore.
The minde doth make the fact, or good or ill.
Come Isabella, let us in to supper, And think the Roman dainties at our Table 'Tis all but thought.
A man may be happy if he will himself.
Yet that which happens to any man may to every man. But it is in his reason, what he accounts it and will make it.
A man is unhappy according as he thinks himself to be.
I am not wretched, for there's no man miserable But he that makes himself so.
*A contented Mind will sweeten every Condition, and a repining Heart will produce the contrary effects.
Shakespeare Citations
There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.
You have lost no reputation at all unless you repute yourself such a loser.
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
Used under CC BY-NC 3.0.