Everything happens to everybody sooner or later if there is time

The fiery playwright and critic, George Bernard Shaw, once declared with both irony and wisdom: “Everything happens to everybody sooner or later if there is time enough.” In this paradoxical phrase, he reveals the impartial and universal hand of time. No man, however fortunate, escapes sorrow. No soul, however burdened, is denied joy. Triumph, defeat, love, betrayal, loss, and wonder—these, given enough years, visit us all. Time does not discriminate; it brings to every life the full weight of human experience.

The origin of this saying rests in Shaw’s keen eye for the absurdities and truths of human life. As a dramatist, he was a master of unveiling how fate and folly dance together in every story. He knew that no one escapes the common lot of humanity. Kings and beggars, poets and soldiers, saints and sinners—each is subject to the wheel of fortune as it turns through time. What seems unique to one life is, in the long course of years, the destiny of all. His words remind us that time itself is the great equalizer.

The ancients spoke similarly of this truth. The Greeks imagined Tyche, the goddess of fortune, who spun her wheel so that all men would know both joy and ruin. The Stoics, too, warned that no circumstance was permanent, that grief and delight alternated as surely as day and night. The Hebrews declared in their wisdom writings that “there is a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.” Shaw, with his modern tongue, reaffirms this ancient truth: given enough time, all that can happen will happen.

History itself bears this out. Consider the life of Winston Churchill, who knew the heights of triumph and the depths of rejection. He was celebrated as a hero in World War I, only to be cast aside in disgrace after Gallipoli. Years later, when the Second World War darkened the world, he was called again to lead, and his name was forever etched in glory. In him we see Shaw’s principle made flesh: had his life been shorter, we would remember only his failure. With time enough, he tasted both ruin and redemption.

The meaning of Shaw’s words is not one of despair, but of perspective. He reminds us that no joy should be taken as permanent, no grief as final, no success as complete, and no failure as eternal. Life is vast, and time weaves all colors into every tapestry. The proud will taste humility, the sorrowful will know laughter, the mighty will stumble, and the lowly will be lifted. Nothing remains forever fixed—time ensures that all men meet the breadth of existence.

The lesson for us is therefore one of humility and resilience. If you are in sorrow, know that joy too will come, for time will bring it. If you are exalted, remain humble, for time will test you. If you have failed, do not despair, for time grants second chances. If you have succeeded, do not grow idle, for time demands new labors. Time grants all things to all men—both gifts and trials—so the wise do not cling too tightly to any single moment.

In practice, I counsel this: receive what comes with gratitude, endure what comes with patience, and know that life will not leave you untouched by any of its lessons. Do not envy others, for they too will know what you have known. Do not boast over your fortune, for it too will change. Instead, walk with steadiness, honoring each season as part of the greater whole.

Thus, remember the enduring wisdom of George Bernard Shaw: “Everything happens to everybody sooner or later if there is time enough.” Let this truth humble your pride, strengthen your hope, and broaden your compassion. For in the end, we are all pilgrims on the same road, and time, impartial and eternal, ensures that the burdens and blessings of life are shared by all.