Hey everybody - there was a book mentioned on here....

Heh-heh!

Now, Boyd, can you tell us who was the first to utter each of those sentiments -- or, at least, who/what made them popular?

The only one I'm sure of is that the second one comes from the Bible. The full verse is "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." -- Ecclesiastes 1:9 (NIV) It's part of a difficult passage in a difficult book, from the mind of someone (either named or titled Qoheleth, aka "Teacher") grappling with the complexities of life, sometimes self-contradicting. In many ways, it echoes many of the thoughts and vicissitudes common today. Yet, it was written roughly 4000 years ago. Nothing new, indeed.

Interestingly, there is a marketing/business connection, of sorts. The society being addressed in the book was a commercial one, and the audience was probably fairly affluent. The book is filled with commercial language, using terms like profit, success, advantage, wealth, deficit, etc. Some verses suggest trade, investment, diversification.

Anyway, just some interesting observations from scanning a commentary.

So, how about those other phrases? Where do they come from?

Chris

P.S. Ecclesiastes is one of the Books of Poetry or Wisdom Literature in the Bible. Rather apropos for the Seeds of Wisdom forum, eh? 8^>

> The more things change, the more they stay
> the same. There's nothing new under the Sun.
> What goes around, comes around. Same s**t,
> different day. Been there, done that, got
> the T-Shirt.

> [Cynicism Off]

> Good luck to us all,

> - Boyd