19Decemberдекабря · 19-е декабря
Истинное благо всегда в наших руках. Оно, как тень за предметом, следует за доброй жизнью.
True good is always in our hands. Like the shadow behind an object, it follows a good life.
1. Всё, что может нас сделать лучше и счастливее, бог поставил прямо перед нами или близко от нас.
1. God has set everything that can make us better and happier right before us or close beside us.
From De beneficiis · reworded by Tolstoy .
What changedWhat nature has placed close at hand, God has placed.
Original · LatinNec de malignitate naturae queri possumus, quia nullius rei difficilis inventio est, nisi cuius hic unus inventae fructus est invenisse; quidquid nos meliores beatosque facturum est, aut in aperto aut in proximo posuit.
Source text: la.wikisource.orgIn English · Aubrey Stewart, 1887Nor can we complain that nature deals hardly with us, for there is nothing which is hard to discover except those things by which we gain nothing beyond the credit of having discovered them; whatever things tend to make us better or happier are either obvious or easily discovered.
Source text: gutenberg.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. De beneficiis, VII.1.7.
Seneca, quoting the Cynic Demetrius: whatever will make us better and happier, nature 'has placed in the open or close at hand' (the subject of posuit is natura, from the clause before). Tolstoy's sentence is otherwise a close translation, but he makes the subject God ('бог поставил'), and drops the setting (we cannot complain of nature's grudging, since only discoveries whose sole reward is the discovering are hard).
2. Нет такого крепкого и здорового тела, которое никогда не болело бы; нет таких богатств, которые не пропадали бы; нет такой высокой власти, под которую не подкапывались бы. Всё это тленно и скоропреходяще, и человек, положивший жизнь свою во всем этом, всегда будет беспокоиться, бояться, огорчаться и страдать. Он никогда не достигнет того, чего желает, а впадет в то самое, чего хочет избегнуть.
Одна только душа человеческая безопаснее всякой неприступной крепости. Почему же мы всячески стараемся ослабить эту нашу единственную твердыню? Почему занимаемся такими вещами, которые не могут доставить нам душевной радости, а не заботимся о том, что одно только и может дать покой нашей душе?
Мы всё забываем, что если совесть наша чиста, то никто не может нам повредить, и что только от нашего неразумия и желания обладать внешними пустяками происходят всякие ссоры и вражды.
2. There is no body so strong and healthy that it never falls ill; there is no wealth that is never lost; there is no power so high that no one undermines it. All this is perishable and fleeting, and the man who has made all this his life will always be uneasy and afraid, will grieve and suffer. He will never attain what he desires, but will fall into the very thing he wants to escape.
The human soul alone is safer than any impregnable fortress. Why, then, do we try in every way to weaken this, our only stronghold? Why do we busy ourselves with things that cannot give us joy of soul, and take no care for what alone can give our soul peace?
We keep forgetting that if our conscience is clean, no one can harm us, and that all quarrels and enmities come only from our unreason and our desire to possess outward trifles.
From Discourses · reworded by Tolstoy .
What changedThe soul kept safe by its judgments becomes safe by a clean conscience.
Original · Ancient Greek… ταῦτά ἐστι τὰ πόλιν ἐχυρὰν καὶ ἀνάλωτον ποιοῦντα, ἀνθρώπου δὲ ψυχὴν οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἢ δόγματα. ποῖον γὰρ τεῖχος οὕτως ἰσχυρὸν ἢ ποῖον σῶμα οὕτως ἀδαμάντινον ἢ ποία κτῆσις ἀναφαίρετος ἢ ποῖον ἀξίωμα οὕτως ἀνεπιβούλευτον;
… πάντα πανταχοῦ θνητά, εὐάλωτα, οἷς τισιν τὸν ὁπωσοῦν προσέχοντα πᾶσα ἀνάγκη ταράσσεσθαι, κακελπιστεῖν, φοβεῖσθαι, πενθεῖν, ἀτελεῖς ἔχειν τὰς ὀρέξεις, περιπτωτικὰς ἔχειν τὰς ἐκκλίσεις.
… εἶτα οὐ θέλομεν τὴν μόνην δεδομένην ἡμῖν ἀσφάλειαν ἐχυρὰν ποιεῖν;
… οὐδὲ μεμνήμεθα, ὅτι οὔτε βλάπτει ἄλλος ἄλλον οὔτε ὠφελεῖ, ἀλλὰ τὸ περὶ ἑκάστου τούτων δόγμα, τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ βλάπτον, τοῦτο τὸ ἀνατρέπον, τοῦτο μάχη, τοῦτο στάσις, τοῦτο πόλεμος;
Source text: raw.githubusercontent.comIn English · George Long, 1890These are the things which make a city strong and impregnable: but nothing else than his opinions makes a man’s soul impregnable. For what wall is so strong, or what body is so hard, or what possession is so safe, or what honour (rank, character) so free from assault (as a man’s opinions)?
All (other) things every where are perishable, easily taken by assault, and if any man in any way is attached to them, he must be disturbed, expect what is bad, he must fear, lament, find his desires disappointed, and fall into things which he would avoid.
Then do we not choose to make secure the only means of safety which are offered to us, and do we not choose to withdraw ourselves from that which is perishable and servile and to labour at the things which are imperishable and by nature free; …
… and do we not remember that no man either hurts another or does good to another, but that a man’s opinion about each thing, is that which hurts him, is that which overturns him; this is fighting, this is civil discord, this is war?
Source text: raw.githubusercontent.comDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Discourses (Arrian), IV.5.25–29.
The same discourse as 12-4.2, a few lines on. Epictetus's rhetorical questions (what wall so strong, what body so hard, what possession so safe, what rank so free from plots?) become three flat statements about the body that falls ill, wealth that is lost, power that is undermined; the list of what the attached man suffers is kept closely. The ground is changed: for Epictetus only a man's judgments (δόγματα) make his soul impregnable, and harm comes only from one's opinion about things; Tolstoy says 'the human soul alone is safer than any fortress', 'if our conscience is pure no one can harm us', and quarrels come 'from our unreason and our wish to own outward trifles'. The besieged city that mocks its besiegers (just before) and Eteocles and Polynices (just after) are dropped.
3. Тот, кто положил жизнь свою в духовном совершенствовании, не может быть недоволен, потому что то, чего он желает, всегда в его власти.
3. He who has made spiritual perfecting his life cannot be discontented, because what he desires is always in his power.
Probably from Pensées · reworded by Tolstoy .
Not in Leo Tolstoy as EditorPascal is only a candidate; the nearest fragment is close in thought but not in words.
Original · FrenchLa volonté propre ne se satisfera jamais, quand elle aurait pouvoir de tout ce qu'elle veut ; mais on est satisfait dès l'instant qu'on y renonce. Sans elle, on ne peut être malcontent ; par elle, on ne peut être content.
Source text: fr.wikisource.orgIn English · W. F. Trotter, 1910Self-will will never be satisfied, though it should have command of all it would; but we are satisfied from the moment we renounce it. Without it we cannot be discontented; with it we cannot be content.
Source text: gutenberg.orgDetails
A likely source, not certain. Pensées, Brunschvicg 472 (Section VII)?.
Thoughts of Wise Men (1903) prints it word for word on April 6, no. 2, signed «Влас Паскаль», and the vol. 40 commentary lists that thought among those wrongly signed «Влас Паскаль» and says it is Tolstoy's own (found 2026-10-29 while tracing October 19, whose 10-19.5 is April 10, no. 2, of the same list). Not found as such. The nearest Pascal is B. 472: whoever renounces self-will 'cannot be discontented'. Tolstoy's 'he who has set his life in spiritual perfection cannot be dissatisfied, for what he desires is always in his power' has the Stoic turn Pascal gives Epictetus in the Entretien avec M. de Saci ('chercher la félicité par les choses qui sont en notre pouvoir'), but neither text says it. Possibly a reworking via the Russian Pascal of Pervov (1899) or Dolgov (1902), both in the vol. 42 list and not available.
Searched: All fifteen sections of the Brunschvicg Pensées on fr.wikisource for content/mécontent/malcontent, en notre pouvoir/puissance, perfection; Trotter's English for discontent, in our power; Pascal's Entretien avec M. de Saci.
4. Счастье, истинное счастье есть сама добродетель.
4. Happiness, true happiness, is virtue itself.
From Ethica ordine geometrico demonstrata · shortened by Tolstoy .
Original · LatinPROPOSITIO XLII. Beatitudo non est virtutis praemium, sed ipsa virtus; …
Source text: archive.orgIn English · R. H. M. Elwes, 1883PROP. XLII. Blessedness is not the reward of virtue, but virtue itself; …
Source text: gutenberg.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Ethica ordine geometrico demonstrata (1677), Part V, Proposition 42, Ethics V, prop. 42 (Latin text ed. G. Gentile, Bari 1915).
The first half of the proposition ("Blessedness is not the reward of virtue, but virtue itself"), reduced to "happiness, true happiness, is virtue itself": the contrast with reward, which is the point, is dropped, and the second half (we do not rejoice in it because we restrain our lusts, but can restrain them because we rejoice in it) is left out. Beatitudo is rendered «счастье», said twice for emphasis.
5. Деятельность людей, не понимающих истинной жизни, всегда направлена на приобретение наслаждений, на избавление себя от страданий и на удаление от себя неизбежной смерти.
Но желание наслаждений усиливает напряженность борьбы, усиливает чувствительность к страданиям и приближает смерть. С целью скрыть от себя приближение смерти, такие люди знают только одно средство: всё больше увеличивать наслаждения. Но наслаждениям есть граница, дальше которой они переходят в страдания и страх всё более и более приближающейся смерти.
Для людей, не понимающих жизни, главная причина этих страданий кроется в том, что они считают наслаждением то, что не может быть равномерно распределено между всеми людьми и должно быть отнимаемо у других силой. Отнимание же у других силою того, что им нужно, уничтожает возможность того благоволения ко всем, того состояния любви, которое одно дает истинно благо людям.
И потому, чем напряженнее деятельность, направленная на достижение таких наслаждений, тем невозможнее становится единственное благо, доступное человеку — любовь.
5. The activity of people who do not understand true life is always directed toward gaining pleasures, toward ridding themselves of suffering, and toward putting off inevitable death.
But the desire for pleasures increases the intensity of the struggle, increases sensitivity to suffering, and brings death nearer. To hide from themselves the approach of death, such people know only one means: to increase their pleasures more and more. But pleasures have a limit, beyond which they pass into suffering and into the fear of a death that draws ever nearer.
For people who do not understand life, the chief cause of these sufferings lies in their counting as pleasure what cannot be shared out equally among all people and must be taken from others by force. And taking from others by force what they need destroys the possibility of that goodwill toward all, that state of love, which alone gives people what is truly good.
And so, the more intense the activity aimed at obtaining such pleasures, the more impossible becomes the only good open to a human being — love.
6. Есть два рода счастливого душевного состояния: 1) спокойствие духа (чистая совесть); 2) всегда веселое сердце. — Первое создается под условием, что человек не сознает за собою никакой вины, ясным представлением ничтожества земных благ; второе — дар природы.
6. There are two kinds of happy state of mind: (1) tranquility of spirit (a clear conscience); (2) an ever-cheerful heart. — The first is produced, on condition that a man is conscious of no guilt in himself, by a clear notion of the nothingness of earthly goods; the second is a gift of nature.
Kant.
From Reflexionen zur Anthropologie · close to the original .
Original · GermanEs gibt zweierlei Art von glücklicher Gemütsverfassung. 1 . die Gemütsruhe oder Zufriedenheit (gutes Gewissen) ; 2. das stets fröhliche Herz. Das erste wird unter der Bedingung, daß man sich keiner Schuld bewußt sei, durch eine klare Vorstellung von der Nichtigkeit der Glücksgüter; das zweite ist ein Geschenk der Natur.
Source text: archive.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Reflexionen zur Anthropologie (ed. B. Erdmann, 1882), as excerpted in Raoul Richter, Kant-Aussprüche (1901), Kant-Aussprüche no. 313; Richter's register: Reflexionen I, 166.
The whole of Richter no. 313, sentence for sentence; Tolstoy drops "or contentment" after "peace of mind" and renders "good conscience" as "clear conscience". No public-domain English of the Reflexionen.
7. Сделать возможно лучшим каждое мгновение жизни, из какой бы руки судьбы, благоприятной или неблагоприятной, оно нам ни выпадало на долю, это и есть искусство жизни и истинное преимущество разумного существа.
7. To make every moment of life the best it can be, from whatever hand of fate, favorable or unfavorable, it may fall to our lot — this is the art of life and the true privilege of a rational being.
From Vermischte Schriften, vol. II · close to the original .
Original · GermanJeden Augenblick des Lebens, er falle aus welcher Hand des Schickſals er wolle uns zu, den guͤnſtigen ſo wie den un⸗ guͤnſtigen, zum beßtmoͤglichen zu machen, darin beſteht die Kunſt des Lebens und …
… das eigentliche Vorrecht eines vernuͤufti— gen Weſens.
Source text: archive.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Vermischte Schriften, vol. II (Göttingen 1801), Bemerkungen vermischten Inhalts, 15: Gute Vorschläge und Maximen, Vermischte Schriften II, p. 400.
A close translation of the whole maxim: to make the best of every moment of life, from whatever hand of fate, kind or unkind, it falls to us, is the art of life and the true privilege of a rational being.
8. Самые надежные и чистые радости человеческой жизни достигаются без душевных треволнений и вспоминаются без угрызений совести.
8. The surest and purest joys of human life are attained without turmoil of soul and are remembered without pangs of conscience.
From Fors Clavigera, Letter XCI 'Dust of Gold' · shortened by Tolstoy .
John Ruskin’s own words… they may rest assured that the safest and purest joys of human life rebuke the violence of its passions ; that they are obtainable without anxiety, and memorable without regret.
Source text: archive.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Fors Clavigera, Letter XCI 'Dust of Gold' (September 1883); vol. IV of the George Allen edition, 1906, Letter XCI, the passage on girls conscious of possessing less beauty ('The real and effective sources of consolation...'), p. 397 of the 1906 volume.
Close except for one clause: Ruskin's 'rebuke the violence of its passions' is left out; 'obtainable without anxiety' becomes 'are attained without agitation of soul' and 'memorable without regret' becomes 'are remembered without pangs of conscience'. Gutenberg has only vols 1-6 of Fors (Letters I-LXXII); this letter was found by searching the archive.org full text.
Тот, кто говорит, что, делая добро, он чувствует себя несчастным, тот или не верит в бога, или то, что он делает и считает добром, не есть добро.
Those who say that they feel unhappy in doing good either do not believe in God, or what they do and count as good is not good.
Tolstoy TodayТолстой сегодня · tolstoytoday.org/december/19