IT'S A LONG LANE THAT HAS NO TURNING

It's a Long Lane that Has no Turning

Some proverbs are worth keeping in your back pocket for difficult times. This is one of them.

“It’s a long lane that has no turning.” The image is simple: a lane that seems endless, with no bend in sight. But every lane turns eventually. The proverb means that a difficult situation will eventually change.

Spanish has several ways of expressing the same idea:

• No hay mal que cien años dure. No misfortune lasts a hundred years.
• No hay bien ni mal que cien años dure (ni gitano que lo aguante). The longer version adds a touch of humor: neither good nor bad lasts a hundred years, nor could anyone stand it for so long.
• No hay calleja sin revuelta. There is no little street without a bend. This is perhaps the closest equivalent to the English proverb.
• Siempre que ha llovido, ha parado. Whenever it has rained, it has stopped.

The images are different, but the message is the same: difficult times do not last forever.

I particularly like no hay bien ni mal que cien años dure because it reminds us that good times, too, are temporary. Perhaps that is a little more realistic than simply saying that everything will be fine.

Sometimes all we need to know is that the road will eventually turn.