5Marchмарта · 5-е марта
Как человек не может сам поднять себя, так не может человек и восхвалить себя. Напротив, всякая попытка человека хвалить себя роняет его в глазах людей.
Just as we cannot lift ourselves up by ourselves, so neither can we extol ourselves. On the contrary, every attempt we make to praise ourselves lowers us in people’s eyes.
1. Не хвали и не брани себя пред людьми. Если будешь хвалить, люди не поверят; если будешь хулить, они подумают о тебе еще хуже, чем ты сказал. И потому самое лучшее — ничего не говорить о себе.
1. Neither praise nor berate yourself before people. If you praise yourself, people will not believe you; if you disparage yourself, they will think even worse of you than you said. And so the best thing is to say nothing about yourself.
2. Тот не смиренен, кто говорит про себя, что он смиренен. Тот, кто говорит, я ничего не знаю, — тот умен; кто говорит: я учен, — тот болтун. Тот, кто молчит, — тот умнее и лучше всех.
2. He is not humble who says of himself that he is humble. He who says “I know nothing” is wise; he who says “I am learned” is a babbler. He who keeps silent is wiser and better than all.
From Verses of Vemana · joined by Tolstoy from several places .
What Tolstoy read · Moncure D. Conway, The Sacred Anthology… this is no humility.
He who says, ' I know nothing,' is shrewd ; he who says, ' I am learned,' is a talker.
He who holds his peace is the wisest and the best.
Source text: archive.orgIn English · C. P. Brown, 1829If you say “ I am humble,” this is no humility.
247. He who says, “I know nothing,” is the shrewdest of all: he who says, “I am learning,” is a mere talker.
He who holds his peace is the wisest and the best.
Source text: archive.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Verses of Vemana, Book III, vv. 64 and 247 (Brown).
Conway's 'Humility' joins seven sentences from C. P. Brown's English of the Telugu poet Vemana, its margin reading 'Hindu. Vemana.' Tolstoy takes the first ('If you say, "I am humble," this is no humility', Brown III.64) and the last (Brown III.247), close; Conway's 'I am learned' (Brown: 'I am learning') gives «я учен». The printed editions signed it «Ветана», a misprint of Vemana; the Jubilee editors changed it to «Вамана Пурана» (their table of corrected signatures, vol. 42), and their name index has «Вемана Пурана». Both are wrong: the Vamana Purana is a Sanskrit Purana, and these are Vemana's verses. The Telugu is not given: the saved Brown edition's Telugu is unreadable OCR.
3. Персиянин Саади рассказывает, как он раз, сидя при отце своем, во всю ночь не закрывая глаз, читал священную книгу Коран в то время, как все домашние крепко спали. В середине ночи, рассказывает Саади, я, оторвавшись от книги, сказал отцу: «Никто не помолится и не послушает священной книги, а все спят, как мертвые». — «И тебе бы лучше спать, — сказал отец, — чем осуждать людей».
3. The Persian Saadi tells how once, sitting with his father, he read the holy book, the Koran, all night long without closing his eyes, while all the household were fast asleep. In the middle of the night, Saadi tells, I tore myself away from the book and said to my father: “No one will say a prayer or listen to the holy book; they are all asleep like the dead.” — “It would be better for you too to sleep,” said my father, “than to judge people.”
4. Тот, кто хвалится, ничего не видит, кроме себя. Лучше бы ему быть слепым, чем видеть только себя.
4. He who boasts sees nothing but himself. It would be better for him to be blind than to see only himself.
From Gulistan · reworded by Tolstoy .
What changedSaadi’s second sentence, that with “an eye capable of discerning God” the boaster “would not discover any person weaker than himself,” gives way to one of Tolstoy’s own: “It would be better for him to be blind than to see only himself.”
What Tolstoy read · Moncure D. Conway, The Sacred Anthology… nothing but himself, having a veil of conceit before his eyes.
If he was endowed with an eye capable of discerning God, he would not discern any person …
Source text: archive.orgOriginal · Persianنبیند مدّعی جز خویشتن را
که دارد پردهٔ پندار در پیش
گرت چشمِ خدا بینی ببخشند
نبینی هیچکس عاجزتر از خویش
Source text: api.ganjoor.netIn English · Francis Gladwin, 1806The boaster sees nothing but himself, having a veil of conceit before his eyes.
If he was endowed with an eye capable of discerning God, he would not discover any person weaker than himself.
Source text: archive.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Gulistan, ch. II, tale 7, closing verse.
Saadi's verse at the end of the tale of the boy who stayed awake at prayer, through Conway ('Self-righteousness'). The first sentence follows 'The boaster sees nothing but himself', without 'having a veil of conceit before his eyes'. The second is Tolstoy's: «Лучше бы ему быть слепым, чем видеть только себя» (better for him to be blind than to see only himself) stands in place of 'If he was endowed with an eye capable of discerning God, he would not discover any person weaker than himself'.
5. Хотите, чтобы о вас хорошо говорили, не говорите о себе хорошего.
5. If you want people to speak well of you, do not speak well of yourself.
From Pensées · reworded by Tolstoy .
What changed“Believe good of you” becomes “speak well of you,” and Pascal’s “N’en dites pas,” say none of it (Trotter: “Don’t speak”), is spelled out as “do not speak well of yourself.”
Original · FrenchVoulez-vous qu’on croie du bien de vous ? n’en dites pas.
Source text: fr.wikisource.orgIn English · W. F. Trotter, 1910Do you wish people to believe good of you? Don't speak.
Source text: gutenberg.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Pensées, Brunschvicg 44 (Section I); Trotter 44.
Pascal's whole fragment, with one word changed: 'qu'on croie du bien de vous' (that people believe good of you) becomes «чтобы о вас хорошо говорили» (that people speak well of you). 'N'en dites pas' (do not say it) is spelled out as «не говорите о себе хорошего». Trotter's 'Don't speak' misreads the French.
6. Мысль и ее выражение — слово — дело серьезное. Нехорошо играть мыслями и словами для оправдания своих поступков.
6. Thought and its expression — the word — are a serious matter. It is wrong to play with thoughts and words to justify our actions.
7. Тот, кто слушает то, что люди говорят про него, никогда не будет спокоен.
7. Those who listen to what people say about them will never be at peace.
8. Льстец льстит только потому, что он невысокого мнения и о себе и о других.
8. The flatterer flatters only because he has a poor opinion both of himself and of others.
From Les Caractères, ch. XII, Des jugements · close to the original .
Original · FrenchLe flatteur n’a pas assez bonne opinion de soi ni des autres.
Source text: fr.wikisource.orgIn English · Henri van Laun, 1885A flatterer has not a sufficiently good opinion of himself or others.
Source text: gutenberg.orgTolstoy’s own version · Избранные мысли ЛабрюйераЛьстец не уважает ни себя, ни других.
Source text: tolstoy.ruDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Les Caractères, ch. XII, Des jugements, § 90 in Van Laun's numbering; text of the Flammarion edition (Paris, 1880).
The whole maxim. Tolstoy makes its reasoning explicit with «льстит только потому, что» (flatters only because); 'n'a pas assez bonne opinion' becomes «невысокого мнения». In 1907, among the additions he translated for Rusanov's La Bruyère, he had rendered the same maxim «Льстец не уважает ни себя, ни других».
Если хотите доброй славы или хотя не худой славы, не только не хвалите сами себя, но и не позволяйте другим хвалить себя.
If you want a good name, or at least not a bad one, not only do not praise yourself, but do not allow others to praise you.
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