Meaning & Analysis
Innate qualities or endowments bestowed by nature—such as talent, temperament, or physical traits—cannot be taken from a person by others.
Insights
Inalienable Identity
Suggests that core aspects of a person's being—whether moral character, intellect, or physical essence—are unalterable and beyond external control.
Divine or Natural Sovereignty
Implies that nature (or by extension, the divine) holds ultimate authority over human essence, placing certain aspects of life beyond the reach of societal or individual interference.
Innate Talent and Virtue
Celebrates natural gifts such as intelligence, charisma, or creativity as enduring and untouchable, despite social oppression or material deprivation.
Essentialist View of Identity
Reflects an early modern essentialist belief that nature implants immutable traits within individuals. This could be used to defend personal dignity—or, paradoxically, to justify social hierarchy based on birth.
Human Rights Antecedent
Foreshadows later Enlightenment notions of natural rights—unalienable qualities intrinsic to personhood that cannot be revoked by law or authority.
Limit of Social Power
Acts as a quiet challenge to tyranny, suggesting that while institutions may restrict behavior or freedom, they cannot erase what is fundamentally natural to a person.
Rhetorical Devices
Antithesis
The proverb contrasts 'gives' and 'take away' to emphasize the permanence of nature’s gifts in the face of human transience or interference.
Aphorism
Its structure as a self-contained, balanced statement gives it rhetorical authority and memorability, reinforcing its moral weight.
Personification
Nature is depicted as a bestower of gifts, acting with intention and power, elevating it to a quasi-divine force immune to human opposition.
Transcription
Quotations
(That natwre geweth)
For the nature of nothing may be altered: that which nature hath given, cannot be taken away.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
Used under CC BY-NC 3.0.