This too shall pass.

A note from Dean Harvey Young: Summer/Fall 2025

Michael Rotiroti

CFA Faculty

This too shall pass.

A Note from Dean Harvey Young: Summer/Fall 2025

April 17, 2025

This too shall pass.

Widely attributed to 13th-century Sufi poets, the proverb was popularized by Abraham Lincoln. At a state fair in Wisconsin in 1859, the future president declared, “How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride; how consoling in the depths of affliction!”

Despite its long history, the adage increasingly reminds me of actor-producer Tom Hanks, who shared these words at a recent roundtable. An excerpt of Hanks relaying this advice went viral across social media platforms.

We live in an age in which information (and disinformation) arrives so quickly that it can be difficult to identify sources. How many times have you told someone about something that you saw or read and then quickly realized that you can’t remember its origin? Attributing it to “online” or “Insta” is incredibly imprecise. Similarly caught in the blur, a lot of people think Tom Hanks is the author of This too shall pass.

As the president and the multi-Oscar winner observed, the proverb can be helpful in enabling a person to reconnect with their core sense of self regardless of the situation. It applies equally to the artist on the margins trying to break into the industry and the person who has reached the summit of their chosen profession.

Folklorist Amy Shuman, in writing about the adage, has noted that people tend to place emphasis on the impermanence of the extremely negative and often fail to acknowledge the equally transitory state of the extremely positive. Abraham Lincoln and his distant relative (via the president’s mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln) got it right.

An acknowledgment of the transitory nature of circumstances can and should serve as a prompt to be proactively helpful to others. When the rain cloud hovers Charlie Brown-like over someone, lend them your umbrella. They just might return the favor.

In reading this issue, I am inspired by the resilience of our CFA community and the various ways they provide steadfast support and encouragement to others.

Harvey Young, Dean of CFA