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To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.
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“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”

Ecclesiastes

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Source
King James Bible — Ecclesiastes 3:1
Date
1611
English wording
King James Version translation committees · from Biblical Hebrew / Aramaic / Koine Greek
Meaning

Meaning of “To every thing there is a season, and…”

The verse places change inside a larger rhythm of seasons and purposes, making it useful for thinking about acceptance when one phase of life gives way to another.

Source context

Where does it come from?

Ecclesiastes 3:1 in the King James Version, opening the sequence of contrasting times and seasons.

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Themes

Ideas connected with this quotation

Acceptance Quotes About Reality, Limits & ChangeChange and GrowthDeepGriefGrowthHealingInspirational Quotes About Hope, Courage & PossibilityLetting Go Quotes About Release & Moving ForwardLifeLife AdviceLife Is ShortLife LessonsMeaning of Life Quotes About What Makes Life MatterMindfulnessMotivation For LifeMoving OnPatiencePersonal GrowthPresent MomentSadSelf ImprovementShortTimeWisdom Quotes About Judgment & Living WellLife Goes OnWaitingWisdom About LifeWords of Wisdom: Practical & Philosophical Counsel
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For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
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“For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.”

Kahlil Gibran · The Prophet · 1923
Meaning & context

Life continues forward despite attachment to what has already happened, so care for the past cannot make the present remain there.

Source details

The Prophet, “On Children”; Gibran contrasts parents’ memory of yesterday with children belonging to a life that moves forward.

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It is not a lost year, but one that may prove the most helpful of any you ever know.
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“It is not a lost year, but one that may prove the most helpful of any you ever know.”

Louisa May Alcott · Jo's Boys · 1886
Voice: Fictional character · Jo Bhaer
Meaning & context

A painful or disappointing period can still become useful experience when it changes judgment, humility, resolve, and the way a person begins again.

Source details

Jo's Boys; the reassurance follows a setback and reframes a difficult year as experience that may later prove unusually helpful rather than simply wasted time.

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The course of life is fixed, and nature admits of its being run but in one way, and only once.
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“The course of life is fixed, and nature admits of its being run but in one way, and only once.”

Cicero · Cato on Old Age · 44 BCE
Voice: Dialogue speaker · Marcus Cato (Cato the Elder)
Meaning & context

Each stage of life occurs only once, so wisdom includes accepting its appropriate strengths instead of endlessly trying to restore an earlier stage.

Source details

Cato on Old Age, Shuckburgh translation, in Cicero’s discussion of the distinctive advantages of each season of life.

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Demand not that events should happen as you wish; but wish them to happen as they do happen, and you will go on well.
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“Demand not that events should happen as you wish; but wish them to happen as they do happen, and you will go on well.”

Epictetus · Enchiridion · c. 125
Meaning & context

Peace is sought by aligning desire with reality rather than requiring reality to obey preference, a central Stoic distinction between response and circumstance.

Source details

Enchiridion, section 8; Epictetus applies Stoic acceptance to events outside personal control.

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