the darkest hour of the night came just before the dawn

[Stratos Kossioris]

Is the proverb used by Paulo Coelho in the Alchemist “the darkest hour of the night came just before the dawn” a Spanish proverb, and what is its origin?

[MJ Booklover]

I did not know the answer to your question, so did a quick Internet search. Quite a few folk seem to agree with this site, Phrases.org, which I quote:

“The English theologian and historian Thomas Fuller appears to be the first person to commit the notion that ‘the darkest hour is just before the dawn’ to print. His religious travelogue A Pisgah-Sight Of Palestine And The Confines Thereof, 1650, contains this view:

It is always darkest just before the Day dawneth.”

 

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