
ProverbPerseverance
English origin
He that is born to be hanged shall never be drowned.
Meaning: Destiny determines how we meet our end; those fated for one doom escape all others.
Origin: An old fatalistic joke: if the gallows is your destiny, the sea cannot claim you first. Shakespeare builds a scene on it at the opening of The Tempest, where the old counselor Gonzalo takes comfort in a storm from the surly boatswain's face — "he hath no drowning mark upon him; his complexion is perfect gallows."
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