proverb · Words worth keeping
I wept when I was born, and every day shows why.
I wept when I was born, and every day shows why.
Historical period not yet established
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
The saying voices a bleak view in which daily hardship seems to explain crying at birth. It expresses a mood rather than proving that life is only suffering.
What the words are saying
A newborn’s cry is reinterpreted through disappointments encountered later. The connection gives sadness a striking retrospective story. A careful reading allows the speaker’s distress to be heard without adopting the account as a universal verdict. Other experiences, relationships and possibilities may coexist with pain. The useful response is attention and support, not an argument that the person must become cheerful.
Everyday example
A friend listens to someone describing a difficult period without endorsing a claim that every future day must be the same.
When to use it
Use it to recognise an expression of distress rather than a factual summary of all life.
What it does not mean
A bleak feeling deserves care but does not determine the future or the whole value of a life.
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 1754 · Wept
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.
- Culture
- English