This too shall pass

Today, thanks to Sheldon Cooper of "The Big Bang Theory" (episode 20 season 7 The Relationship Diremption), I learned a very nice little story.

As Sheldon says, the Persian poet Attar of Nishapur (c. 1145 - c. 1221) records the fable of a powerful king who asks an assembled group of wise men to create a ring that will make him happy when he is sad (and vice versa). After deliberation the sages hand him a simple ring with the words "This too will pass" etched on it, which has the desired effect.

(Picture: ring with the "this too shall pass" inscription is on sale on Amazon)

Googling around, I learned that the story is actually narrated by other authors too, and its true origin remains uncertain. The sentence and in general the story of an "Eastern monarch" was included in a speech given on September 30, 1859, by Abraham Lincoln before the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society in Milwaukee:

It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence, to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words: "And this, too, shall pass away." How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!

This sentence is quite epic and really gives the indeed effect!

Update

According to one blog visitor, the story comes from Iran and it has been a popular saying inside Iranian prisons for decades and many prisoners have this sentence tattooed on their arms