ProverbMorality
English origin1599
English origin1599There is a tide in the affairs of man which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.
Meaning: Seizing opportunities at their peak moment determines success; delay means missing favorable circumstances entirely.
Who said it? William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, 1599
Origin: From Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (1599), where Brutus urges Cassius to march against Antony and Octavian at once: "There is a tide in the affairs of men, / Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; / Omitted, all the voyage of their life / Is bound in shallows and in miseries." Brutus takes the tide, and it leads to his defeat at Philippi.
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