proverb · Words worth keeping
Neither fortunes nor flowers last forever.
Neither fortunes nor flowers last forever.
Historical period not yet established
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
Fortunes and flowers both ending picture material circumstances beside visible impermanence. The saying warns against assuming a present advantage lasts unchanged.
What the words are saying
Forever is a broad reflection, not a timetable for a particular loss. A useful reading can encourage responsible attention without making hardship inevitable now or treating the future as pointless. The comparison provides no financial or botanical forecast.
Everyday example
Someone values a present resource while checking the care and planning its continued use requires.
When to use it
Use it to discuss impermanence with practical consequences assessed.
What it does not mean
No fixed loss schedule, crop prediction or financial outcome is established.
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
China
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
- Contributor-provided wisdom reference (2014 AD)
Supplied reference B; unit 280; PDF page 31; collection label: China
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.
- Culture
- China