Meaning & Analysis
All people grow tired, but for different reasons: the poor from striving to obtain what they lack, the rich from maintaining their wealth, and the virtuous from pursuing knowledge or self-improvement.
Insights
Universality of Struggle
The proverb emphasizes that no one is exempt from effort or weariness—life’s burdens are distributed differently but are inescapable for all.
Relativity of Human Condition
It reveals that struggles are relative to circumstance: lack, abundance, and virtue each bring their own forms of labor and exhaustion.
Inevitability of Dissatisfaction
It subtly hints at the endlessness of desire and striving: satisfaction remains elusive, regardless of one’s position or pursuits.
Historical Symbolism
The division among the poor, the rich, and the good encapsulates classical and early modern ideas of social and moral hierarchy, while also democratizing weariness as the common fate of all.
Cultural Resonance
The proverb echoes the wisdom literature of many cultures—Ecclesiastes, for instance—on the futility and endlessness of human striving, whether for survival, security, or virtue.
Psychological Truth
Psychologically, the proverb recognizes that each life path carries its own anxieties and fatigue, undermining simplistic ideas about happiness residing in wealth or virtue alone.
Rhetorical Devices
Parallelism
The repeated structure ('the poor in seeking, the rich in keeping, the good in learning') gives the proverb rhythm, balance, and memorability.
Tricolon
Presents three contrasting types, emphasizing the all-encompassing reach of human weariness.
Antithesis
Juxtaposes different social and moral states to reveal their unexpected equivalence in producing fatigue.
Transcription
Quotations
Every one will labour, the poor man in seeking what he wants, and the rich man in preserving what he hath.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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