proverb · Words worth keeping
If it is here, it is everywhere. If it is not here, it is nowhere.
If it is here, it is everywhere. If it is not here, it is nowhere.
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
Something said to be everywhere if present here, and nowhere if absent here, gives an unspecified local presence a universal significance. The wording leaves what it refers to unclear.
Example
A reader asks what here refers to before using the line to support a wider claim.
Deeper explanation and when to use it
The exact referent and traditional context are unverified. A cautious reading can explore whether here means an immediate or inward experience, but cannot supply that as settled meaning. The sentence does not prove a general rule about existence from one observation.
When to use it
Use this as an editorial reading of the source image, with its stated limits retained.
Keep in mind
The unspecified referent prevents a definitive traditional interpretation.
An interpretation of the words, not a claim about their 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
- Date unknown
- Culture
- Tibet Province of China