Meaning & Analysis
For every physical wound, injury, or ailment ('sore'), there exists a corresponding medicinal ointment or remedy ('salve') that can cure or soothe it.
Insights
Universal Solvability
Symbolizes a universal principle of hope and optimism, suggesting that for every problem, hardship, or emotional pain, a solution, remedy, or form of comfort exists and can be found.
Call to Resourcefulness
Encourages resilience and resourcefulness by implying that no situation is insurmountable. It suggests that through wisdom, effort, or divine provision, a remedy for any form of suffering is attainable.
A Belief in Balance
Reflects a belief in a balanced and just world. It implies that suffering does not exist in isolation but is always paired with a potential for healing and restoration, suggesting an inherent order in the universe.
Historical Medical Context
The proverb's power is rooted in the tangible, everyday experience of pre-modern medicine, where salves were a primary form of treatment. This connection to physical healing lends a powerful, intuitive force to its metaphorical application for all of life's problems.
Psychology of Hope
This proverb functions as a powerful psychological balm, offering a framework for resilience. It counters despair by asserting that no problem is permanent or unsolvable, encouraging a hopeful and proactive mindset in the face of adversity.
Ironic Application
The 1721 quotation by Kelly reveals a cynical interpretation, where the proverb can be used to describe someone who is glibly resourceful, always ready with a convenient excuse or a simplistic solution, thereby trivializing the 'sore'.
Virtue as Remedy
Cross-references to proverbs like 'Patience is a plaster for all sores' and 'Mercy is a salve for every sore' show a cultural tendency to frame abstract virtues as tangible remedies, suggesting that character and moral action are the ultimate solutions to suffering.
Rhetorical Devices
Metaphor
The core of the proverb lies in the direct metaphor comparing any problem to a 'sore' and its solution to a 'salve', making an abstract concept of hope tangible and easily understood.
Alliteration
The sibilant alliteration of 'salve' and 'sore' creates a smooth, memorable phonetic link between the problem and its solution, enhancing the proverb's rhetorical appeal.
Balanced Structure
The proverb's simple, declarative structure ('a thing for every thing') presents its optimistic claim as a universal, undeniable truth, giving it an air of authority and wisdom.
Transcription
Quotations
A salue there is for euery sore.
There is a salue for euery sore, and doubt you not, to this mischeefe we shall find a remedie.
For euery griefe I haue a salue in store.
There is no sore, but hath his salue: no griefe, but hath his remedie: nor no daunger, but may be forstoode, eyther by prayer or good indeuoure.
For euery sore of the body, there is a salue; for euery mala-die, a remedie.
To have a salve for any sore, viz. a shift for any disaster.
(You have a). *Spoken to those who are ready at their Answers, Apologies, and Excuses.
Shakespeare Citations
But let us hence, my sovereign, to provide A salve for any sore that may betide.
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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