26Februaryфевраля · 26-е февраля
После долгого разговора постарайся вспомнить всё то, о чем было говорено, и ты удивишься, как пусто и ненужно и часто дурно было многое, а иногда и всё то, что говорилось.
After a long conversation, try to recall everything that was talked about, and you will be surprised at how empty and needless and often bad much of it was, and sometimes all of it.
1. Глупому человеку лучше всего молчать. Но если бы он знал это, он бы не был глупым человеком.
1. It is best of all for a foolish man to keep silent. But if he knew this, he would not be a foolish man.
From Gulistan · close to the original .
What Tolstoy read · Moncure D. Conway, The Sacred AnthologyNothing is so good for an ignorant man as silence ; …
Source text: archive.orgOriginal · Persianنادان را به از خاموشی نیست وگر این مصلحت بدانستی نادان نبودی.
Source text: api.ganjoor.netIn English · James Ross, 1823Nothing is so good for an ignorant man as silence, and if he knew this he would no longer be ignorant …
Source text: gutenberg.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Gulistan, ch. VIII, maxim 35.
The maxim's first sentence, close; the verses that follow are left out.
2. Когда ты говоришь, слова твои должны быть лучше молчания.
2. When you speak, your words must be better than silence.
Source not found yet .
Tolstoy’s own version · Мысли мудрых людей на каждый деньКогда ты говоришь, слова твои должны быть лучше молчания.
Source text: tolstoy.ruDetails
Not found yet.
Thoughts of Wise Men (1903) prints the line signed Арабская поговорка. Southgate has the same thought signed Pythagoras ('Be silent, or say something better than silence'); no Arabic source was found.
Searched: Conway's Sacred Anthology (Silence; Silence and Speech; Arabic entries), Southgate's Many Thoughts, Jubilee vols. 40 and 42.
3. Если один раз пожалеешь, что не сказал, то сто раз пожалеешь о том, что не промолчал.
3. If once you regret that you did not speak, a hundred times you will regret that you did not keep silent.
4. Добрые не бывают спорщиками; спорщики не бывают добрыми.
Мудрые не бывают учены. Ученые не бывают мудры.
Истинные слова не бывают приятны. Приятные слова не бывают истинны.
4. The good are not arguers; arguers are not good.
The wise are not learned. The learned are not wise.
True words are not pleasant. Pleasant words are not true.
From Daodejing · close to the original .
What Tolstoy read · Paul Carus, Lao-Tze's Tao-Teh-KingTrue words are not pleasant ; pleasant words are not true. The good are not contentious ; …
The wise are not learned ; the learned are not wise.
Source text: archive.orgIn English · James Legge, 1891Sincere words are not fine; fine words are not sincere.
Source text: gutenberg.orgTolstoy’s own version · Мысли мудрых людей на каждый деньИстинные слова не бывают приятны. Приятные слова не бывают истинны.
Source text: tolstoy.ruDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Daodejing, ch. 81.
Carus's three pairs, close, with the first pair moved to the end.
5. Ручной труд полезен уже тем, что избавляет от пустых разговоров.
5. Manual labor is useful if only because it frees us from empty talk.
Translation note. The Jubilee text breaks the italics at the comma Russian requires before «что»; the English sets the line as one.
6. Хочешь быть умным, научись разумно спрашивать, внимательно слушать, спокойно отвечать и переставать говорить, когда нечего больше сказать.
6. If you want to be intelligent, learn to ask reasonably, to listen attentively, to answer calmly, and to stop talking when there is nothing more to say.
From Aphorisms on Man · reworded by Tolstoy .
What changedLavater’s description of a man with “some of the best requisites of man” becomes advice, “if you want to be intelligent, learn to”; asking comes before listening, and “calmly speaks” is dropped.
Louis Klopsch, Many Thoughts of Many MindsHe who sedulously attends, pointedly asks, calmly speaks, coolly answers, and ceases when he has no more to say, is in possession of some of the best requisites of man.
Source text: gutenberg.orgAnother translation · Aphorisms on Man, tr. Henry FuseliWho feduloufly attends, pointedly alks, calmly fpeaks, coolly anfwers, and ceafes when he has …
… no more to fay, is in poffeffion of fome of the belt requifites of man.
Source text: archive.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Aphorisms on Man (London, 1788, translated by Henry Fuseli from Lavater's German manuscript, Vermischte unphysiognomische Regeln zur Selbst- und Menschenkenntniß), Aphorisms on Man (1788), no. 125; Klopsch, Many Thoughts of Many Minds, under conversation.
Lavater wrote in German; the aphorism was first printed in Fuseli's English (1788), and Louis Klopsch's anthology Many Thoughts of Many Minds (1896) reprints it; Henry Southgate's anthology of that title (1862), which the Jubilee list names among Tolstoy's sources, does not have it, so where Tolstoy read it is not established. The German text was not found (the Halle copy of the 1787 Regeln is behind a bot check). Changed: Lavater describes the man who "sedulously attends, pointedly asks, calmly speaks, coolly answers, and ceases when he has no more to say" as possessing "some of the best requisites of man"; Tolstoy makes it advice, «Хочешь быть умным, научись» (if you want to be wise, learn to), puts asking before listening, drops "calmly speaks", and renders "pointedly asks" as «разумно спрашивать» (ask reasonably).
Translation note. «Умный» is “intelligent”, kept apart from «мудрые», “the wise”, in Lao-Tzu’s lines the same day.
7. Если люди долго спорят, то это доказывает то, что то, о чем они спорят, неясно для них самих.
7. If people argue for a long time, this proves that they themselves are not clear about what they are arguing over.
From Dictionnaire philosophique, article Secte · reworded by Tolstoy .
What changedThe verdict on a long dispute, “Both parties are wrong,” becomes “they themselves are not clear about what they are arguing over.”
Original · FrenchQuand la vérité est évidente, il est impossible qu’il s’élève des partis et des factions.
Longue dispute signifie « les deux partis ont tort ».
Source text: fr.wikisource.orgIn English · H. I. Woolf, 1924A long dispute signifies--"Both parties are wrong."
Source text: gutenberg.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Dictionnaire philosophique, article Secte, Garnier ed. (1878), end of section I.
Voltaire: "Longue dispute signifie « les deux partis ont tort »", after arguing that evident truth raises no factions. Tolstoy turns the verdict into «то, о чем они спорят, неясно для них самих».
8. Сколько нелепостей говорится людьми только из желании сказать что-нибудь новое.
8. How many absurdities people utter only from the wish to say something new.
Source not found yet .
Not found yet.
Passage not found in the saved texts or by web search.
Searched: Dictionnaire philosophique (saved articles), Tolstoy’s vol. 40; web search for "dire quelque chose de nouveau" Voltaire.
Translation note. The Jubilee text prints «из желании», a slip for «из желания», “from the wish”.
9. Язык немого лучше языка лгуна.
9. The tongue of a mute is better than the tongue of a liar.
Source not found yet .
Not found yet.
No source found.
Searched: Conway's Sacred Anthology (Turkish proverbs, p. 307, and the other Turkish entries), all saved sources for 'dumb' and 'liar', Jubilee vols. 40 and 42.
Если имеешь время подумать, прежде чем начинать говорить, то подумай, стоит ли, нужно ли говорить, не может ли повредить кому-нибудь то, что ты хочешь сказать.
If you have time to think before you begin to speak, then think whether it is worth speaking, whether there is any need to speak, whether what you want to say might harm someone.
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