--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is ever so with the things that Men…" description: "\"It is ever so with the things that Men begin: there is a frost in Spring, or a blight in Summer, and they fail of their promise.\" — J. R. R. Tolkien" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/088/j-r-r-tolkien-2-1316_blight_it-is-ever-so-with-the-things-that-men-b_429733.png" --- # It is ever so with the things that Men begin: there is a… ![“It is ever so with the things that Men begin: there is a frost in Spring, or a blight in Summer, and they fail of their promise.” quote by J. R. R. Tolkien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/088/j-r-r-tolkien-2-1316_blight_it-is-ever-so-with-the-things-that-men-b_429733.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/088/j-r-r-tolkien-2-1316_blight_it-is-ever-so-with-the-things-that-men-b_429733.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/088/j-r-r-tolkien-2-1316_blight_it-is-ever-so-with-the-things-that-men-b_429733.png) > “It is ever so with the things that Men begin: there is a frost in Spring, or a blight in Summer, and they fail of their promise.” [J. R. R. Tolkien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-r-r-tolkien-2/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human endeavors are vulnerable to unexpected setbacks, like seasonal failures that betray hopes. **In simple terms:** Plans often fail unexpectedly. Key Takeaway Expect and adapt to setbacks. Themes fragility hope nature human ambition impermanence Mood reflective cautious Type philosophical practical When to use this quote - project planning - agricultural cycles - career goals - climate adaptation Key Concepts philosophy environmental cycles existential risk Questions to Reflect On - How do you cope with unexpected failures? - What safeguards can mitigate natural setbacks? 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Tolkien quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-r-r-tolkien-2/) ## More Blight quotes > [Textbooks, it seems to me, are enemies of education, instruments for promoting dogmatism and trivial learning. They may save the teacher some trouble, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-postman/textbooks-it-seems-to-me-are-enemies-of-education-instruments-for/) [Neil Postman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-postman/) > [Do not cringe and make yourself small if you are called the black sheep, the maverick, the lone wolf. Those with slow seeing say…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clarissa-pinkola-estes/do-not-cringe-and-make-yourself-small-if-you-are-called-the-black/) [Clarissa Pinkola Estes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clarissa-pinkola-estes/) > [These monster cities we live in today are blights of modern society. They will certainly give way to planned cities interlinked to the countryside.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-p-cannon/these-monster-cities-we-live-in-today-are-blights-of-modern-society/) [James P. Cannon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-p-cannon/) > [Are some free fonts a gift to humanity rather than a blight on typographic civilization ?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-lupton/are-some-free-fonts-a-gift-to-humanity-rather-than-a-blight-on/) [Ellen Lupton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-lupton/) > [“John Mitchel’s famous declaration that God sent the blight but the English created the Famine.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-pat-coogan/john-mitchel-s-famous-declaration-that-god-sent-the-blight-but-the/) Tim Pat Coogan > [Humans have grown like a cancer. We're the biggest blight on the face of the earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ingrid-newkirk/humans-have-grown-like-a-cancer-we-re-the-biggest-blight-on-the-face/) [Ingrid Newkirk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ingrid-newkirk/) > [There's a segment of this world, there's a mind state that's permeated the intellectual consciousness of this world that comes from a certain type…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/el-p/there-s-a-segment-of-this-world-there-s-a-mind-state-that-s-permeated/) [El-P](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/el-p/) > [The blight of futility that lies in wait for men's speeches had fallen upon our conversation and made it a thing of empty sounds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/the-blight-of-futility-that-lies-in-wait-for-men-s-speeches-had/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-russell-lowell/once-to-every-man-and-nation-comes-the-moment-to-decide/) [James Russell Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-russell-lowell/) > [Long time a child, and still a child, when years Had painted manhood on my cheek, was I; For yet I lived like one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hartley-coleridge/long-time-a-child-and-still-a-child-when-years-had-painted-manhood-on/) [Hartley Coleridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hartley-coleridge/) > [As frost to the bud, and blight to the blossom, even such is self-interest to friendship; for confidence cannot dwell where selfishness is porter…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-farquhar-tupper/as-frost-to-the-bud-and-blight-to-the-blossom-even-such-is-self/) [Martin Farquhar Tupper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-farquhar-tupper/) > [So: if the chronic inflation undergone by Americans, and in almost every other country, is caused by the continuing creation of new money, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/murray-rothbard/so-if-the-chronic-inflation-undergone-by-americans-and-in-almost/) [Murray Rothbard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/murray-rothbard/) > [How unthinkable that, in a country of such bursting plenty, so many people are facing ongoing hunger and poverty. 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