proverb · Words worth keeping
Everything would live.
Everything would live.
Historical period not yet established
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
Living beings are pictured as seeking continued existence. The saying can invite attention to the value of life beyond a person’s immediate convenience.
What the words are saying
The broad phrase gives life a common wish to continue. It can encourage care when an action affects another creature, or recognition that others have interests of their own. It is a moral and imaginative statement rather than proof that every organism has the same conscious wishes. A useful reading asks what harm is being caused and whether it can reasonably be avoided, without claiming a simple answer to every conflict between needs.
Everyday example
Someone moves an unwanted creature away from a shared space when that can be done without unnecessary harm.
When to use it
Use it to reflect on the interests of living beings affected by an action.
What it does not mean
The saying does not establish identical consciousness or resolve every conflict between living needs.
Agent-assisted editorial interpretation. This explains the words; it does not by itself verify their author or earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Historical period not yet established
No sufficiently supported historical placement has been established. Import and download dates are not treated as composition dates. - Recorded source
- A Dictionary of English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases
Entry 979 · Live
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.
- Culture
- English