6Decemberдекабря · 6-е декабря
Заблуждаемся мы не оттого, что не можем правильно мыслить, а оттого, что живем дурно.
We fall into error not because we cannot think rightly, but because we live badly.
1. Незнание никогда не делает зла; пагубно только заблуждение. Заблуждаются же люди не потому, что не знают, а потому, что воображают себя знающими.
1. Ignorance never does harm; only error is ruinous. And people err not because they do not know, but because they imagine they know.
From Émile, ou De l'éducation, Book III · close to the original .
Original · FrenchSouviens-toi, souviens-toi sans cesse que l'ignorance n'a jamais fait de mal, que l'erreur seule est funeste, & qu'on ne s'égare point par ce qu'on ne sait pas, mais par ce qu'on croit savoir.
Source text: fr.wikisource.orgIn English · Barbara Foxley, 1911Keep this truth ever before you--Ignorance never did any one any harm, error alone is fatal, and we do not lose our way through ignorance but through self-confidence.
Source text: gutenberg.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Émile, ou De l'éducation, Book III, Livre III (Collection complète des œuvres, Genève 1782), on teaching geometry; Foxley's translation, Book III.
Faithful to the French; only Rousseau's 'remember, remember always' is dropped and 'what one thinks one knows' becomes 'imagine themselves knowing'.
2. Всякое заблуждение есть яд, и потому не может быть безвредных заблуждений; тем более не может быть прекрасных и неприкосновенных заблуждений.
На что мне такие утешения, над которыми висит непрестанно Дамоклов меч разочарования? Безопасна только одна истина. Одна истина тверда, и на одну ее можно положиться. Только в ней истинное утешение; она одна неразрушимый алмаз. — Освободить человека от лжи значит не отнять что-либо, но дать. Знание того, что неправда — неправда, есть истина. Заблуждение всегда вредит. Рано или поздно оно отзовется человеку, который держится его.
2. Every error is a poison, and so there can be no harmless errors; still less can there be beautiful and sacrosanct errors.
What good to me are consolations over which the Damoclean sword of disillusionment hangs unceasingly? Truth alone is safe. Truth alone is firm, and on it alone can one rely. Only in it is there true consolation; it alone is the indestructible diamond. — To free a man from a lie is not to take something away, but to give. The knowledge that untruth is untruth is truth. Error always does harm. Sooner or later it will tell on the man who holds to it.
From Parerga und Paralipomena II, ch. 15 · joined by Tolstoy from several places .
The anthology Tolstoy probably took it from… denn jeder Irrthum trägt ein Gift in feinem Innern. Iſt es der Geiſt, iſt es die Erkenntniß, welche den Menſchen zum Herrn der Erde macht; To giebt es keine un⸗ ſchädliche Irrthümer, noch weniger ehrwürdige, heilige Irrthümer.
Source text: archive.orgWhat Tolstoy read · R. B. Haldane and J. Kemp, 1883… for all error has poison at its heart. If it is mind, if it is knowledge, that makes man the lord of creation, there can be no such thing as harmless error, still less venerable and holy error.
Source text: gutenberg.orgOriginal · GermanWas helfen Troſtund Beruhigungsgründe, über welchen beſtändig das Damoklesſchwerdt der Enttäuſchung ſchwebt! Die Wahrheit, mein Freund, die Wahrheit allein hält Stich, beharrt und bleibt treu: ihr Troſt allein iſt der ſolide: ſie iſt der unzerſtörbare Diamant.
Einen von einem Irrthum befreien heißt nicht ihm etwas nehmen, ſondern geben: denn die Erkenntniß, daß etwas falſch ſei, iſt eben eine Wahrheit. Kein Irrthum aber iſt unſchädlich; ſondern jeder wird früher oder ſpäter Dem, der ihn hegt, Un⸗ heil bereiten.
Source text: archive.orgIn English · T. Bailey Saunders, 1889What is the use of grounds of consolation and tranquillity which are constantly overshadowed by the Damocles-sword of illusion? The truth, my dear sir, is the only safe thing; the truth alone remains steadfast and trusty; it is the only solid consolation; it is the indestructible diamond.
To free a man from error is to give, not to take away. Knowledge that a thing is false is a truth. Error always does harm; sooner or later it will bring mischief to the man who harbors it.
Source text: gutenberg.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Parerga und Paralipomena II, ch. 15 (Über Religion: ein Dialog), Philalethes, joined to a sentence of Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung I, § 8 (as excerpted in Frauenstädt's Lichtstrahlen), Parerga II (1851), § 174 (dialogue), p. 367 of the saved edition; first paragraph: WWV I, § 8 (Lichtstrahlen cites W. I, 41 fg.).
Two places joined. The first paragraph is WWV I § 8 (every error carries a poison within it, so there are no harmless errors, still less venerable and holy ones), which Lichtstrahlen prints; Tolstoy drops the clause about the mind making man lord of the earth and calls the errors "beautiful and inviolable". The second paragraph is Philalethes in the dialogue on religion, closely: the Damocles sword of disillusion, truth alone holds fast, its consolation alone is solid, it is the indestructible diamond; to free a man from error is to give, not take, for knowing a thing false is itself a truth; no error is harmless, each will sooner or later bring harm to the one who holds it. Tolstoy leaves out Demopheles' interjection between the two halves. In the second paragraph he follows Bailey Saunders's English (Religion: a Dialogue, 1889) where it departs from the German: "the truth is the only safe thing; the truth alone remains steadfast and trusty" (Безопасна только одна истина. Одна истина тверда, и на одну ее можно положиться) for "die Wahrheit allein hält Stich, beharrt und bleibt treu", and "Error always does harm" (Заблуждение всегда вредит) for "Kein Irrthum aber ist unschädlich"; so he probably read the dialogue in Saunders. The dialogue passage was not found in the Lichtstrahlen searched.
3. Мы видим мир при посредстве наших мыслей, видим его не таким, каков он есть, а в том свете, какой придают ему наши мысли. Ненависть делает его для нас, — как будто мы надели черные очки, — туманным и мрачным.
3. We see the world through the medium of our ideas, not as it is, but as our ideas color it. Hatred is like putting on black spectacles — everything we look at appears to be dark and dismal.
From The World's Advance-Thought and the Universal Republic · close to the original .
Tolstoy’s version, in EnglishWe see the world through the medium of our thoughts; we see it not as it is, but in the light our thoughts lend it. Hatred makes it for us — as though we had put on dark glasses — hazy and gloomy.
Lucy Mallory’s own wordsWe see the world through the medium of our ideas, not as it is, but as our ideas color it. Hatred is like putting on black spectacles-- everything we look at appears to be dark and dismal, because we have put before our vision that which makes all things appear to be so.
Source text: iapsop.comDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. The World's Advance-Thought and the Universal Republic (Portland, Oregon), vol. XII, no. 11, September 1899: an unsigned editorial paragraph, In the editor's pages ("The Universal Republic"), after Mallory's reminiscence of learning "the twos", before the notice of Col. Robert G. Ingersoll's death.
Close: "ideas" become "thoughts", "dark and dismal" become "foggy and gloomy", and Tolstoy ends where Mallory explains, dropping "because we have put before our vision that which makes all things appear to be so". The paragraph is unsigned, among the editor's own paragraphs (Mallory's usual way). Mallory's own words are printed here, ending at "dismal", where Tolstoy stops. The text is from the IAPSOP scan; this volume (1897-1899) is not on archive.org.
Translation note. Tolstoy kept the author’s words closely, so the author’s own English is printed here (ruling 1); Tolstoy’s Russian, translated, is in the source panel.
4. Есть такие заблуждения, которых нельзя опровергнуть. Надо сообщить заблуждающемуся уму такие знания, которые его просветят. Тогда заблуждение исчезнет само собою.
4. There are errors that cannot be refuted. One must impart to the erring mind such knowledge as will enlighten it. Then the error will vanish of itself.
Kant.
From Reflexionen · shortened by Tolstoy .
Original · GermanEs gibt Irrtümer, die man nicht widerlegen kann. Man muß den verkehrten Kopf in Erkenntnisse führen, die ihn aufklären; alsdann verliert sich der Irrtum von selbst.
Source text: archive.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Reflexionen (Kant's notes, ed. B. Erdmann), as excerpted in Raoul Richter, Kant-Aussprüche (1901), Kant-Aussprüche no. 273 ("Menschliche Schwächen und ihre Heilung"); Richter's register gives Reflexionen, apparently II, 354-355 (the scan of the register is unclear).
The first two sentences of Richter no. 273, closely; Kant's "wrong-headed person" (den verkehrten Kopf) becomes "the erring mind". Tolstoy leaves out the example that ends the entry: you will not argue anyone out of the blind belief in sympathy (sympathetic magic); teach him physics. No public-domain English of the Reflexionen.
5. Одно из злых свойств человека состоит в том, что он любит и уважает самого себя, желает себе блага. Но беда ему, если он любит только самого себя: он захочет быть великим, а увидит, что он маленький; захочет быть счастливым, а увидит себя несчастным; захочет быть совершенным, а увидит себя полным несовершенства; захочет себе любви и уважения от людей, а увидит, что его недостатки отвращают от него людей и внушают им презрение к нему. Видя неисполнение своих желаний, такой человек впадает в самое преступное дело: он начинает ненавидеть ту правду, которая идет ему наперекор; он хочет истребить эту правду, и так как он сделать этого не может, то он в своей душе и в мыслях других старается извращать правду, когда только может; и таким способом он надеется скрыть свои недостатки и от других и от самого себя.
5. One of man’s evil traits is that he loves and respects himself and wishes good for himself. But woe to him if he loves only himself: he will want to be great but will see that he is small; he will want to be happy but will see himself unhappy; he will want to be perfect but will see himself full of imperfection; he will want love and respect from people but will see that his failings turn people away from him and inspire in them contempt for him. Seeing his wishes unfulfilled, such a man falls into the most criminal of deeds: he begins to hate the truth that goes against him; he wants to destroy that truth, and since he cannot do so, he tries, whenever he can, to distort the truth in his own soul and in the thoughts of others; and in this way he hopes to hide his failings both from others and from himself.
From Pensées · reworded by Tolstoy .
What changed“The nature of self-love” becomes “one of man’s evil traits.”
Original · FrenchLa nature de l'amour-propre et de ce moi humain est de n'aimer que soi et de ne considérer que soi.
… il veut être grand, et il se voit petit ; il veut être heureux, et il se voit misérable ; il veut être parfait, et il se voit plein d'imperfections ; il veut être l'objet de l'amour et de l'estime des hommes, et il voit que ses défauts ne méritent que leur aversion et leur mépris.
… car il conçoit une haine mortelle contre cette vérité qui le reprend, et qui le convainc de ses défauts. Il désirerait de l'anéantir, et, ne pouvant la détruire en elle-même, il la détruit, autant qu'il peut, dans sa connaissance et dans celle des autres ; c'est-à-dire qu'il met tout son soin à couvrir ses défauts et aux autres et à soi-même …
Source text: fr.wikisource.orgIn English · W. F. Trotter, 1910The nature of self-love and of this human Ego is to love self only and consider self only.
He wants to be great, and he sees himself small. He wants to be happy, and he sees himself miserable.
Source text: gutenberg.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Pensées, Brunschvicg 100 (Section II), «Amour-propre»; Trotter 100.
The first half of B. 100, reshaped. Pascal's opening ('the nature of self-love is to love only oneself') becomes 'one of man's evil traits is that he loves and respects himself and wishes himself good; but woe to him if he loves only himself'. The four 'he wants … he sees' clauses are kept; 'the most unjust and criminal passion' becomes 'the most criminal thing', a hatred of the truth that contradicts him, which he distorts 'in his own soul and in the minds of others' to hide his faults from both. Pascal's long continuation (confession, flattery, the hatred of truth in society) is dropped.
6. Борьба духовной и телесной природы одна и та же во всех людях, и потому люди впадают в одни и те же заблуждения. Находясь же в одних и тех же заблуждениях, они еще более утверждаются в них и принимают их за несомненную истину, потому что большее количество людей разделяет их.
6. The struggle between the spiritual and the bodily nature is one and the same in all people, and so people fall into the same errors. And, being caught in the same errors, they become all the more confirmed in them and take them for undoubted truth, because a greater number of people share them.
Накормить голодного, одеть голого, посетить больного — всё добрые дела, но несравнимое со всем этим доброе дело — освобождение брата от заблуждения.
To feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to visit the sick — all these are good deeds, but the good deed beyond compare with all of them is freeing a brother from error.
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