6Aprilапреля · 6-е апреля
Люди занимаются самыми различными, почитаемыми ими очень важными делами, но почти никогда не занимаются тем единственным делом, которое одно предназначено им и включает все остальные — улучшением своей души, освобождением божественного начала души. То, что именно это дело предназначено человеку, видно из того, что это единственная цель, для достижения которой человеку нет препятствий.
People occupy themselves with the most varied affairs, which they consider very important, but almost never with the one task that alone is meant for them and includes all the rest — the improving of their souls, the freeing of the divine principle of the soul. That it is this very task that human beings are meant for can be seen from the fact that it is the only aim in reaching which they meet no obstacles.
1. В молодых годах люди верят, что та добродетель, которую мы желаем себе и другим, возможна, и что назначение человека в постоянном совершенствовании, и что возможно и даже легко исправить всё человечество, уничтожить все пороки и несчастия. Мечты эти не смешны, а напротив, в них гораздо больше истины, чем в суждениях старых, завязших в соблазнах людей, когда люди эти, проведшие всю жизнь не так, как это свойственно человеку, советуют другим ничего не желать, не искать, а жить, как живется. Ошибка мечтаний молодости только в том, что совершенствование себя, своей души юноши переносят на других, и еще в том, что то, что должно совершиться в будущем, они хотят видеть сейчас.
1. In their young years people believe that the virtue we wish for ourselves and for others is possible, that the human calling lies in constant perfecting, and that it is possible and even easy to set all humanity right, to destroy all vices and misfortunes. These dreams are not ridiculous; on the contrary, there is far more truth in them than in the judgments of old people mired in temptations, when these people, who have spent their whole lives otherwise than befits human beings, advise others to wish for nothing, to seek nothing, but to take life as it comes. The error of youthful dreams lies only in this: that the young transfer the perfecting of themselves, of their own souls, to others; and also in this: that what is to come about in the future they want to see now.
2. Я считаю, что нельзя лучше жить, как стараясь делаться лучше, и что нет большего удовольствия, как чувствовать, что действительно становишься лучше. Это — счастие, которое я не переставал испытывать до сих пор, и о том, что счастье это настоящее, говорит мне моя совесть.
2. I hold that one cannot live better than by trying to become better, and that there is no greater pleasure than to feel that one is really becoming better. This is a happiness I have not ceased to feel to this day, and my conscience tells me that this happiness is genuine.
From Xenophon, Memorabilia · reworded by Tolstoy .
What changedThe ground of Socrates’ judgment, “a strict comparison drawn between myself and others,” becomes conscience: “my conscience tells me that this happiness is genuine.”
Original · Ancient Greek… ἄριστα μὲν γὰρ οἶμαι ζῆν τοὺς ἄριστα ἐπιμελομένους τοῦ ὡς βελτίστους γίγνεσθαι, ἥδιστα δὲ τοὺς μάλιστα αἰσθανομένους ὅτι βελτίους γίγνονται.
… ἃ ἐγὼ μέχρι τοῦδε τοῦ χρόνου ᾐσθανόμην ἐμαυτῷ συμβαίνοντα, καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀνθρώποις ἐντυγχάνων καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἄλλους παραθεωρῶν ἐμαυτὸν οὕτω διατετέλεκα περὶ ἐμαυτοῦ γιγνώσκων·
Source text: raw.githubusercontent.comIn English · H. G. Dakyns, 1897Since theirs I regard as the best of lives who study best to become as good as may be, and theirs the happiest who have the liveliest sense of growth in goodness; and such, hitherto, is the happy fortune which I perceive to have fallen to my lot.
To such conclusion I have come, not only in accidental intercourse with others, but by a strict comparison drawn between myself and others, and in this faith I continue to this day; …
Source text: gutenberg.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Xenophon, Memorabilia, IV.8.6–7.
Socrates to Hermogenes before his trial, as Xenophon reports him: "theirs I regard as the best of lives who study best to become as good as may be, and theirs the happiest who have the liveliest sense of growth in goodness"; such has been his lot until now, and he has judged so by comparing himself with others, as his friends judge of him. Tolstoy keeps the two clauses closely («нельзя лучше жить, как стараясь делаться лучше»; «нет большего удовольствия, как чувствовать, что действительно становишься лучше») and the happiness felt «до сих пор» (μέχρι τοῦδε τοῦ χρόνου). The ground of the judgement changes: Socrates' comparison of himself with other men, and his friends' opinion, become «о том, что счастье это настоящее, говорит мне моя совесть» (my conscience tells me this happiness is real). The passage is not in Thoughts of Wise Men (1903); the Russian intermediary was not found. Signed Socrates, the words are Xenophon's report of him.
3. Мы должны благодарить тех, которые указывают нам наши недостатки. Хотя недостатки наши от этого указания и не пропадают, потому что их слишком много у нас, но зато, когда недостатки наши нам известны, то они начинают тревожить нашу душу, не дают совести глохнуть, и мы стараемся исправиться и освободиться от них.
3. We ought to thank those who point out our faults to us. Though our faults do not vanish when they are pointed out, because we have too many of them, yet once our faults are known to us, they begin to trouble our soul and do not let our conscience grow deaf, and we try to correct ourselves and free ourselves from them.
From Pensées · reworded by Tolstoy .
What changedPascal’s reasons to be grateful, that those who point out our faults “mortify us” and “teach us that we have been despised,” are dropped, and the faults that remain “begin to trouble our soul and do not let our conscience grow deaf.” †
† An intermediate translation may have made this change.
Original · FrenchOn a bien de l'obligation à ceux qui avertissent des défauts, car ils mortifient ; ils apprennent qu'on a été méprisé, ils n'empêchent pas qu'on ne le soit à l'avenir, car on a bien d'autres défauts pour l'être. Ils préparent l'exercice de la correction et l'exemption d'un défaut.
Source text: fr.wikisource.orgIn English · W. F. Trotter, 1910We owe a great debt to those who point out faults. For they mortify us. They teach us that we have been despised. They do not prevent our being so in the future; for we have many other faults for which we may be despised. They prepare for us the exercise of correction and freedom from fault.
Source text: gutenberg.orgTolstoy’s own version · Мысли мудрых людей на каждый деньМы должны благодарить тех, которые указывают нам наши недостатки. Хотя недостатки наши от этого указания и не пропадают, потому что их слишком много у нас, но зато, когда недостатки наши нам известны, то они начинают тревожить нашу душу, не дают совести глохнуть, и мы стараемся исправиться и освободиться от них.
Source text: tolstoy.ruDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Pensées, Brunschvicg 535 (Section VII); Trotter 534.
B. 535, reworked. The opening debt is kept («Мы должны благодарить тех, которые указывают нам наши недостатки»). Pascal's reasons are the humbling ones: 'ils mortifient ; ils apprennent qu'on a été méprisé' (they mortify us and teach us we have been despised), and they cannot prevent our being despised again, 'car on a bien d'autres défauts pour l'être'. Tolstoy drops the mortification and the contempt; the other faults become a reason the faults do not vanish («потому что их слишком много у нас»), and 'l'exercice de la correction' becomes faults that 'trouble our soul and keep conscience from going deaf' («начинают тревожить нашу душу, не дают совести глохнуть»), so that we try to correct them. The Circle repeats Tolstoy's 1903 text word for word; there his source was Orlov's Pascal (1889), not found online.
4. Состояние нашего сознания имеет для нас больше значения, чем суждение всего внешнего мира, ибо мы живем в своем сознании непрерывно и вечно. Наше счастие или несчастие зависит не от того, как другие относятся к нам, а от того, как мы относимся к себе. Улучшайте себя, свою душу, и вы сделаете этим самое лучшее, что можете сделать и для себя и для других.
4. The state of our consciousness means more to us than the judgment of the whole outside world, for we live in our consciousness continually and forever. Our happiness or unhappiness depends not on how others regard us but on how we regard ourselves. Improve yourself, your soul, and by this you will do the very best you can do, both for yourself and for others.
Source not found yet .
Related · The World's Advance-Thought and the Universal RepublicYou have to dwell within yourself to all eternity; therefore, to make yourself harmonious and agreeable is of more importance than anything else.
Source text: iapsop.comDetails
Not found yet.
The English was not found. The nearest found is one of Mallory's 'Key Thoughts' of July 1901 (Related): 'You have to dwell within yourself to all eternity; therefore, to make yourself harmonious and agreeable is of more importance than anything else.' It shares the reasoning of Tolstoy's first sentence (we live within ourselves for ever, so our inner state matters most); it has no 'judgment of the whole outside world', and nothing of the second and third sentences. Mallory restated her aphorisms in other words from issue to issue, and Tolstoy's version may come from an issue that is not online.
Searched: The saved archive.org scans of the journal (vols. II no. 1, III–VI, XIV–XVI, XIX–XXII) and, read but not kept, the IAPSOP PDFs of all 56 issues online from March 1897 to August 1905, for 'consciousness' near 'eternal', 'continually', 'opinion' or 'outside world', for 'how we regard ourselves' and 'improve yourself'. Jubilee vols. 40, 42 (the plain-language Circle and the commentary) and 45 (The Path of Life) have no other version. Issues of vols. VII–X (1892–97) and XIII (1899–1901), and many of vols. XI–XVI, are not online; the Jubilee list gives Tolstoy's run of the journal as 1894–1904.
5. Самое лучшее счастие — чувствовать себя в конце года лучше, чем в начале.
5. The very best happiness is to feel that you are better at the end of the year than at the beginning.
From Journal, 15 March 1852, as printed in Early Spring in Massachusetts, ed. H. G. O. Blake · reworded by Tolstoy .
What changedWhat it is “reasonable” to expect, that a man “should be something worthier at the end of the year,” becomes “the very best happiness”: to feel that you are better.
What Tolstoy read · Every Day with Thoreau, in The Coming DayIt is reasonable that a man should be something worthier at the end of the year than he was at the beginning.
Source text: archive.orgThoreau’s own wordsIt is reasonable that a man should be something worthier at the end of the year than he was at the beginning.
Source text: archive.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Journal, 15 March 1852, as printed in Early Spring in Massachusetts, ed. H. G. O. Blake (Boston, 1881), Early Spring in Massachusetts (1881), p. 140, under March 15, 1852, after 'May I be worthy to do it'.
Thoreau's 'It is reasonable that a man should be something worthier at the end of the year than he was at the beginning' becomes 'The best happiness is to feel oneself better at the end of the year than at the beginning' (Самое лучшее счастие — чувствовать себя в конце года лучше, чем в начале): what is reasonable to expect of a man becomes the best happiness, and being worthier becomes feeling better. The Jubilee list of Tolstoy's sources names 'Every day with Thoreau', bound sheets from an unidentified book. John Page Hopps's monthly The Coming Day printed a Thoreau calendar under that title through 1898, and all five of April's Thoreau entries are in it (March 19, May 25, July 12, September 12, December 31; the April number is not on archive.org), so its sheets were probably Tolstoy's route, as February's trace of 2-24.1 proposed. No printable.
Translation note. The Jubilee text breaks the italics at the dash and the comma; the English sets the line as one.
6. «Будьте совершенны, как отец ваш небесный» — значит: старайтесь освободить в себе божеское начало своей жизни.
6. “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is” means: try to set free in yourselves the divine principle of your life.
Translation note. Matthew 5:48, shortened; the KJV has “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”
Совершенствоваться нельзя, живя постоянно в суете мирской, и еще меньше возможно, живя постоянно в уединении. Самое выгодное условие для совершенствования это — то, чтобы в уединении вырабатывать и утверждать свое мировоззрение и потом, живя в мире, применять его к делу.
We cannot perfect ourselves while living always amid the bustle of the world, and it is still less possible while living always in solitude. The most favorable condition for perfecting ourselves is this: to work out and establish our view of the world in solitude, and then, living in the world, to put it into practice.
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