Truths are eternal, but change is constant

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.

Remove items from your saved list to add more.

No gift articles left

You've used all of your gift articles. 3 more will become available on the 1st of every month.

It’s interesting to see how far back we can go when tracing still familiar sayings, such as: “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

American statesman Benjamin Franklin popularised the saying in 1789, but is said to have quoted from a play written by Christopher Bullock in 1716. In 2026 I think I’m safe in adding a third certainty, namely “change”.

Not that change wasn’t causing concern back in Franklin’s day. Scottish Anglican cleric Henry Francis Lyte (1793-1847), who........

© The Sydney Morning Herald