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I want to create a quote which is:

"You have everything when you had nothing".

Is it correct?

I am trying to say that once one starts to realize that we have nothing, that is the moment we just have everything.

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You have to decide whether you wish to say something very terse and epigrammatic, or something a little less terse, but a little clearer and less ambiguous.

You have everything when you have nothing.

You have everything when you expect nothing.

Once we understand that we have nothing, we have everything.

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Yes, it is almost correct.. Just change the "had" with "have" at the end of the sentence. So, it would be like this,

You have everything when you have nothing.

Or you can change the have at the start of the sentence with had, but that would make it a past tense.

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  • but it is wrong if i just leave as it is, because i'm intentionally put "had" at the end. to show that we will have everything "after" we realize we have nothing. is it still wrong ? please advise.
    – Tengku Fathullah
    Aug 2, 2017 at 15:36
  • @Tengku The verb have does not include the notion of realizing what one has (or does not have), so this would not work in English.
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Aug 2, 2017 at 16:43
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Your sentence is correct but it ought to be have instead of had.

You have everything when you had nothing.

In this sentence, you used had instead of have. you are specifying that you had nothing and it still continues. So this isn't a future event.

You have everything when you have nothing.

Now, you are specifying that if you have nothing, you will have everything. There is a condition as you can see.

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