- English translation
Everyone gets their moment, and then it passes.
- Literal wording
Each one takes his turn.
- Meaning and lesson
Prominence is pictured here as a rotation: whoever stands highest today is only occupying a spell of standing that will later pass to someone else. The turn is a period of rising fortune, not merely a place in a queue. Status appears borrowed rather than owned, with an endpoint built into every success.
The practical force lies in steadying the listener. Because no present arrangement of winners and losers lasts, the circumstances of people nearby, friend or rival, need not provoke strong delight or distress; time will reshuffle everyone's position. It counsels detachment, not a threat or a promise of revenge.
- When it is used
Useful as a calm remark when talk turns to who is currently up and who is down, especially if someone is reacting heatedly. It recasts the present ranking as one stage in an ongoing rotation rather than a final verdict, and should not be voiced as a warning of payback.
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- Colloquial
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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