9Mayмая · 9-е мая
Жизнь есть неперестающее изменение: ослабление плотской и усиление, увеличение духовной жизни.
Life is unceasing change: a weakening of the carnal life and a strengthening, a growth, of the spiritual life.
1. Борьба с собой и насилие над собой не могут не быть вследствие наших прежних грехов; но это насилие над собой — любовное, законное. Мать вырывает ребенка своего из пасти зверя. Ребенку больно, но он, конечно, должен приписать свое страдание не матери своей, спасающей его, а зверю, желающему удержать его. Так же точно и человек должен относиться к борьбе добра со злом: добро, как мать, вырывает нашу душу от зла, и хотя борьба эта и мучительна для нас, но она необходима и дает нам благо. Плохо было бы для нас, если бы не было этой борьбы. Без нее мы не могли бы быть добры.
1. Struggle with ourselves and violence against ourselves are unavoidable, as a consequence of our former sins; but this violence against ourselves is loving and lawful. A mother tears her child out of the jaws of a beast. The child is hurt, but he must of course ascribe his suffering not to his mother, who is saving him, but to the beast that wants to keep hold of him. In just the same way man must regard the struggle of good with evil: the good, like the mother, tears our soul away from evil, and though this struggle is painful to us, it is necessary and brings us good. It would go badly with us if there were no such struggle. Without it we could not be good.
From Pensées · reworded by Tolstoy .
What changedPascal’s “religion” and “irreligion” become good and evil, “the struggle of good with evil,” and God drops out of the close: “the most cruel war which God can make with men,” to leave them without that war, becomes “It would go badly with us if there were no such struggle.”
Original · FrenchIl est vrai qu’il y a de la peine, en entrant dans la piété ; mais cette peine ne vient pas de la piété qui commence d’être en nous, mais de l’impiété qui y est encore.
C’est comme un enfant, que sa mère arrache d’entre les bras des voleurs, doit aimer, dans la peine qu’il souffre, la violence amoureuse et légitime de celle qui procure sa liberté, et ne détester que la violence impétueuse et tyrannique de ceux qui le retiennent injustement.
La plus cruelle guerre que Dieu puisse faire aux hommes en cette vie est de les laisser sans cette guerre qu’il est venu apporter.
Source text: fr.wikisource.orgIn English · W. F. Trotter, 1910It is true there is difficulty in entering into godliness. But this difficulty does not arise from the religion which begins in us, but from the irreligion which is still there.
It is as a child, which a mother tears from the arms of robbers, in the pain it suffers, should love the loving and legitimate violence of her who procures its liberty, and detest only the impetuous and tyrannical violence of those who detain it unjustly.
The most cruel war which God can make with men in this life is to leave them without that war which He came to bring.
Source text: gutenberg.orgTolstoy’s own version · Мысли мудрых людей на каждый деньБорьба с собою и насилие над собою, конечно, должны быть вследствие наших прежних грехов; но это насилие — любовное, законное.
Так же точно и человек должен относиться к борьбе благочестия с нечестием: благочестие, как мать, вырывает нашу душу от нечестия …
Плохо было бы для нас, если бы бог оставил нас вовсе без борьбы. Без нее не может явиться в нас и благочестие.
Source text: tolstoy.ruDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Pensées, Brunschvicg 498 (Section VII); Trotter 498.
B. 498, retold, through Tolstoy's 1903 version. Pascal says the pain of entering piety comes 'de l'impiété qui y est encore' (from the impiety still in us); Tolstoy has the struggle come from «наших прежних грехов» ('our former sins'). Pascal's robbers, 'les bras des voleurs', become a beast's jaws, «из пасти зверя». His last sentence, 'La plus cruelle guerre que Dieu puisse faire aux hommes en cette vie est de les laisser sans cette guerre qu'il est venu apporter', was in 1903 «Плохо было бы для нас, если бы бог оставил нас вовсе без борьбы»; in the Circle God is gone: «Плохо было бы для нас, если бы не было этой борьбы». Where 1903 kept Pascal's piety and impiety («борьбе благочестия с нечестием»), the Circle has good and evil («борьбе добра со злом»), and the close «Без нее не может явиться в нас и благочестие» becomes «Без нее мы не могли бы быть добры» ('without it we could not be good'); neither close is in Pascal. The commentary of Jubilee vol. 40 names the Pascal source of the 1903 book, A. I. Orlov's «Французский ученый Влас Паскаль» (Посредник, 1889), not found online.
2. По мере того, как свет увеличивается в нас, мы видим себя худшими, чем мы прежде думали. Мы удивляемся на свою прежнюю слепоту по мере того, как видим выступающий из нашего сердца целый рой постыдных чувствований. Мы никогда не воображали, что могли хранить в себе такие гадости, и с ужасом смотрим на их появление. Но не надо ни удивляться, ни отчаиваться. Мы не стали хуже, чем были, напротив.
2. As the light increases in us, we see ourselves to be worse than we thought before. We are amazed at our former blindness as we see a whole swarm of shameful feelings coming forth from our heart. We never imagined that we could harbor such vileness within us, and we watch it appear with horror. But there is no need either to be amazed or to despair. We have not become worse than we were; on the contrary.
From Lettres spirituelles · shortened by Tolstoy .
What Tolstoy read · Spiritual Letters of Archbishop Fénelon: Letters to Women, tr. H. L. Sidney LearAs that light increases, we see ourselves to be worse than we thought We are amazed at our former blindness as we see issuing forth from the depths of our heart a whole swarm of shameful feelings, like filthy reptiles crawling from a hidden cave.
We never could have believed that we had harboured such things, and we stand aghast as we watch them gradually appear. But we must neither be amazed nor disheartened. We are not worse than we were ; on the contrary …
Source text: archive.orgOriginal · FrenchA mesure que la lumière augmente, Madame, on se trouve plus corrompu qu'on ne le croyait ; on est tout étonné de son aveuglement passé, et on voit sortir du fond de son cœur, comme d'une caverne profonde, une infinité de sentimens honteux.
On n'aurait jamais cru les porter dans son sein. Il ne faut toutefois ni s'étonner ni se décourager.
Ce n'est pas que nous soyons plus médians que nous ne l'étions; au contraire, nous le sommes moins …
Source text: archive.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Lettres spirituelles, Letter to a lady of 21 March 1690: Lettres choisies de Fénelon (Collection de lettres chrétiennes, t. II, 3rd ed., Geneva and Paris, 1856), letter V, pp. 182–183; Sidney Lear, Spiritual Letters … Letters to Women (1877), letter VII, «Not to be troubled about unintentional omissions in confession», pp. 27–28.
The middle of the letter, with its ending cut. Tolstoy follows Sidney Lear's English, not the French: «Мы удивляемся на свою прежнюю слепоту по мере того, как видим выступающий из нашего сердца целый рой постыдных чувствований» is Lear's 'We are amazed at our former blindness as we see issuing forth from the depths of our heart a whole swarm of shameful feelings', where Fénelon has 'une infinité de sentiments honteux' (an infinity of shameful feelings) rising 'comme d'une caverne profonde'; «и с ужасом смотрим на их появление» is Lear's 'we stand aghast as we watch them gradually appear'. Tolstoy drops Lear's simile of the 'filthy reptiles crawling from a hidden cave' and stops at «напротив» ('on the contrary'), before 'we are better', leaving out the rest of the letter (the light that shows our faults grows as the faults diminish). The Geneva printing saved here shortens the French (it lacks the reptiles and 'on s'en fait horreur à mesure qu'on les voit sortir', which the Paris Œuvres of 1851, vol. VIII, have in a scan whose two columns run together) and reads 'médians' (OCR for 'méchants').
3. Пока живешь — поучайся. Не жди, чтоб старость принесла с собой мудрость.
3. As long as you live, keep learning. Do not wait for old age to bring wisdom with it.
From Moralistes anciens · close to the original .
What Tolstoy read · Moralistes anciens, ed. L. Aimé-MartinTant que tu vivras, cherche à t'instruire : ne présume pas que la vieillesse apporte avec elle la raison.
Source text: archive.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Moralistes anciens (Paris, Lefèvre, 1841), "Sentences des sages de la Grèce", Solon, XVIII.
Tolstoy translates the French of Moralistes anciens, one of the anthologies on his list of sources, closely: "As long as you live, seek to instruct yourself; do not presume that old age brings reason with it." «поучайся» renders "cherche à t'instruire", and «мудрость» (wisdom) stands for "la raison". The Greek the French translator rendered was not identified; it is not among Solon's precepts in Diogenes Laertius I.60. Solon's own line "I grow old ever learning many things" (fragment 18, quoted by Plutarch, Solon 2 and 31) is near it in thought.
4. Нам нужно, главным образом, освободиться от нелепой мысли, будто небо исправит со временем наши крупные ошибки. Если вы неряшливо приготовляете какое-нибудь кушанье, то вы не рассчитываете, что провидение сделает его вкусным; и точно так же, если вы в течение целого ряда безумных лет ложно направляли свою жизнь, то не должны ожидать, что божественное вмешательство направит и устроит вас к лучшему.
4. What we need above all is to free ourselves of the absurd idea that heaven will in time correct our great mistakes. If you prepare some dish carelessly, you do not count on Providence to make it tasty; and in just the same way, if through a whole series of mad years you have directed your life wrongly, you must not expect divine intervention to direct you and set you right.
From Sesame and Lilies, Lecture III 'The Mystery of Life and its Arts' · shortened by Tolstoy .
John Ruskin’s own wordsAbove all, get quit of the absurd idea that Heaven will interfere to correct great errors, while allowing its laws to take their course in punishing small ones.
If you prepare a dish of food carelessly, you do not expect Providence to make it palatable; neither if, through years of folly, you misguide your own life, need you expect Divine interference to bring round everything at last for the best.
Source text: gutenberg.orgTolstoy’s own version · На каждый деньНужно освободиться от нелепой мысли о том, что Небо может исправить наши ошибки.
… и точно так же, если вы в течение целого ряда безумных лет ложно направляли свою жизнь, то не должны ожидать, что божественное вмешательство направит и устроит всё к лучшему.
Source text: tolstoy.ruDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Sesame and Lilies, Lecture III 'The Mystery of Life and its Arts' (1868), Lecture III, after 'as if there were, indeed, no other world than this'.
Ruskin's two sentences, shortened, the second kept closely. 'Above all, get quit of the absurd idea' becomes 'We need, chiefly, to free ourselves from the absurd thought'; 'that Heaven will interfere to correct great errors' becomes 'that heaven will in time correct our great mistakes'; the clause that follows, 'while allowing its laws to take their course in punishing small ones', is left out. 'If you prepare a dish of food carelessly, you do not expect Providence to make it palatable' is close; 'through years of folly' becomes 'through a whole series of mad years'; 'to bring round everything at last for the best' becomes 'will direct and arrange you for the better' (направит и устроит вас к лучшему). On Every Day (21 February) repeats the passage with 'everything' (всё) for 'you', as Ruskin has it. No printable.
5. Добродетель всегда двигается вперед и все-таки всегда начинается сначала.
5. Virtue always moves forward and yet always begins again from the beginning.
Kant.
From Die Metaphysik der Sitten, II: Metaphysische Anfangsgründe der Tugendlehre · close to the original .
Original · GermanDie Tugend ist immer im Fortschreiten und hebt doch auch immer von vorne an.
Source text: archive.orgIn English · J. W. Semple, 1836Virtue is constantly progressive, and yet it has always TO begin again, of new, from the beginning.
Source text: archive.orgDie Metaphysik der Sitten, ed. Karl VorländerDie Tugend ist immer im Fortschreiten und hebt doch auch immer von vorne an.
Source text: archive.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Die Metaphysik der Sitten, II: Metaphysische Anfangsgründe der Tugendlehre (1797), Einleitung, as excerpted in Raoul Richter, Kant-Aussprüche (1901), Kant-Aussprüche no. 151 (Richter's register: Metaphysik der Sitten, Hartenstein VII, 213); the Anmerkung after the section «Zur Tugend wird Apathie (als Stärke betrachtet) notwendig vorausgesetzt» (AA VI, 409); Vorländer's edition (1907), p. 254.
Kant's sentence, closely: virtue is always advancing and yet always begins again from the start. In the Metaphysik der Sitten it opens a note that gives the reasons: the first because virtue, taken objectively, is an ideal one can never reach but has a duty always to approach; the second because human nature, moved by inclinations, never lets virtue rest, so that if it is not rising it is sinking. Richter, and Tolstoy after him, print the sentence alone; Tolstoy sets it in italics.
6. Доброта голубя — не добродетель. Голубь не добродетельнее волка. Добродетель и ее степени начинаются только тогда, когда начинается усилие.
6. The goodness of a dove is not virtue. A dove is no more virtuous than a wolf. Virtue and its degrees begin only when effort begins.
7. Если бы богу было угодно, он бы сделал всех нас одним народом, но он испытывает нас.
Где бы вы ни были, все стремитесь изо всех сил к добру: придет день, когда бог соединит всех вас.
7. If it had pleased God, he would have made all of us one people, but he tries us.
Wherever you may be, strive all of you with all your strength toward the good: the day will come when God will unite you all.
From Qur'an · joined by Tolstoy from several places .
What Tolstoy read · The Sacred AnthologyAll have a quarter of the heavens to which they turn them ; but wherever ye be, hasten emulously …
… after good : God will one day bring you all together, …
If God had pleased, he would surely have made you all one people ; but he would test you by what he hath given to each. Be emulous then in good deeds. To God shall ye all return, …
Source text: archive.orgOriginal · Arabicوَلَوۡ شَآءَ ٱللَّهُ لَجَعَلَكُمۡ أُمَّةٗ وَٰحِدَةٗ وَلَٰكِن لِّيَبۡلُوَكُمۡ فِي مَآ ءَاتَىٰكُمۡۖ فَٱسۡتَبِقُواْ ٱلۡخَيۡرَٰتِۚ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ مَرۡجِعُكُمۡ جَمِيعٗا
Source text: ar.wikisource.orgIn English · J. M. Rodwell, 1861… but wherever ye be, hasten emulously after good: God will one day bring you all together; …
And if God had pleased He had surely made you all one people; but He would test you by what He hath given to each. Be emulous, then, in good deeds. To God shall ye all return, …
Source text: gutenberg.orgThe Qur'anفَٱسۡتَبِقُواْ ٱلۡخَيۡرَٰتِۚ أَيۡنَ مَا تَكُونُواْ يَأۡتِ بِكُمُ ٱللَّهُ جَمِيعًاۚ
Source text: ar.wikisource.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Qur'an, 5:48 (al-Ma'ida, The Table), then 2:148 (al-Baqara, The Cow); Conway (1874), no. LXXXIV, The Essence of Religion, p. 53.
Two verses from Conway's section, which quotes Rodwell's English, in reverse order: Conway has 2:148 first, 'wherever ye be, hasten emulously after good: God will one day bring you all together', and 5:48 later, 'If God had pleased, he would surely have made you all one people; but he would test you by what he hath given to each. Be emulous then in good deeds. To God shall ye all return'. Tolstoy makes 'you all' «всех нас» (all of us), cuts 'by what he hath given to each' to «но он испытывает нас» (but he tests us), moves 'be emulous then in good deeds' to the second verse as «все стремитесь изо всех сил к добру», and leaves out 'To God shall ye all return'. In 5:48 God gives each people its own law and way; in 2:148 each has its own direction of prayer.
Нельзя останавливаться на пути самосовершенствования. Как только ты почувствуешь больший интерес к внешнему миру, чем к своей душе, знай, что ты остановился; мир движется мимо тебя, а ты стоишь.
There must be no stopping on the path of self-perfection. As soon as you feel a greater interest in the outer world than in your own soul, know that you have stopped; the world is moving past you, and you are standing still.
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