17Novemberноября · 17-е ноября
Мы страдаем от прошедшего и портим себе будущее только потому, что пренебрегаем настоящим. Прошедшее и будущее — мечты, настоящее одно действительно есть.
We suffer from the past and spoil the future for ourselves only because we neglect the present. The past and the future are dreams; the present alone truly is.
1. Будь внимателен к настоящему. Только в настоящем мы познаем вечность.
1. Be attentive to the present. Only in the present do we come to know eternity.
Probably from Vermächtniß · reworded by Tolstoy .
Not in Leo Tolstoy as EditorSigned “after Goethe”; the closest line found is “Der Augenblick ist Ewigkeit,” and the source is not confirmed.
Details
A likely source, not certain. Vermächtniß (poem, 1829), line 30.
Tolstoy marks it "after Goethe", i.e. a free rendering. "Der Augenblick ist Ewigkeit" is the closest Goethe line found; Eckermann (3 Nov 1823: every moment represents a whole eternity) is another possibility, not consulted. Not found in the Maxims and Reflections or Wanderjahre consulted.
2. Одно из самых обычных заблуждений то, что настоящий час не есть критический, решающий час. Запиши в своем сердце, что каждый день — самый лучший день всего года.
2. One of the illusions is that the present hour is not the critical, decisive hour. Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.
From Works and Days, in Society and Solitude · close to the original .
Tolstoy’s version, in EnglishOne of the commonest errors is to think that the present hour is not the critical, decisive hour. Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.
Emerson’s own wordsOne of the illusions is that the present hour is not the critical, decisive hour. Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.
Source text: gutenberg.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Works and Days, in Society and Solitude (1870), Near the end of the essay, after 'It was the deep to-day which all men scorn'.
Word-for-word, except 'illusions' becomes 'заблуждений' and Tolstoy adds 'самых обычных' (most common). Emerson's own two sentences are printed here.
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.
3. Всякое поколение почитай своих выдающихся людей и не говори: «предшественники их были достойнее».
3. Let every generation honor its own outstanding men, and not say: “Their forerunners were worthier.”
From Babylonian Talmud, Rosh Hashanah · shortened by Tolstoy .
Original · Aramaicיפתח בדורו כשמואל בדורו
אל תאמר מה היה שהימים הראשונים היו טובים מאלה
Source text: sefaria.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Babylonian Talmud, Rosh Hashanah, 25b.
The baraita 'Jephthah in his generation is as Samuel in his generation' (honour the leader of your own day) with its prooftext Eccl. 7:10 'say not, the former days were better'; Tolstoy compresses it into a single maxim. No public-domain English translation was consulted.
4. Всё не важно, кроме того, что мы делаем в настоящую минуту.
4. Nothing is important except what we are doing this minute.
5. Пользуйся сейчас своим сосудом (своим телом), завтра он может разбиться.
5. Use your vessel (your body) now; tomorrow it may break.
Source not found yet .
Not found yet.
Not located. The sense ('use it now, tomorrow it may break') resembles Samuel's advice in Eruvin 54a ('grab and eat, grab and drink, for the world we leave is like a wedding feast'), but the vessel image was not found.
Searched: Sefaria Talmud (Eruvin 13b, Megillah 31b, Rosh Hashanah 25b, Nedarim 40a); Pirkei Avot (Gorfinkle).
6. То ли ты делал, что тебе нужно делать — получает огромную важность, потому что единственный смысл жизни твоей только в том, то ли ты делаешь в этот короткий, данный тебе срок жизни, то ли делаешь, чего хочет от тебя тот, кто послал тебя в жизнь?
6. Whether you were doing what you ought to do takes on enormous importance, because the one meaning of your life lies only in this: are you doing, in the short span of life given you, what is wanted of you by the one who sent you into life?
Source not found yet .
Not found yet.
Not located; reads like Tolstoy's own reflection on a Talmudic theme (cf. Avot II.15-16, the day is short and the work great).
Searched: Pirkei Avot (Gorfinkle, Sefaria Hebrew ch. 2).
7. Нет ни прошлого, ни будущего, потому что кто же когда проникал в эти призрачные царства. Есть только настоящее. Не беспокойся о завтрашнем, потому что нет завтра. Живи в нынешнем и для нынешнего, и если твое нынче хорошо, то оно добро навсегда.
7. There is neither past nor future, for who has ever entered those phantom realms? There is only the present. Do not trouble about tomorrow, for there is no tomorrow. Live in today and for today, and if your today is good, it is good forever.
Source not found yet .
Not found yet. The Whim, a Periodical without a Tendency.
«Вим» is The Whim (Newark, New Jersey), Crosby's magazine, named in the Jubilee source list. No online scan of the issue was found.
Searched: archive.org metadata search for The Whim 1900-1906; Crosby's Swords and Plowshares and Broad-cast.
Translation note. «Вим» is probably the English magazine Whim (Ernest Crosby’s); the title is given in English as a guess at the original.
Когда тебе тяжело, ты страдаешь от воспоминаний о прошедшем или тревожишься о будущем, вспомни, что жизнь только в настоящем, направь на него все твои силы, и все страдания твои о прошедшем и тревоги о будущем исчезнут, и ты почувствуешь свободу и радость.
When life is hard for you, when you suffer from memories of the past or are anxious about the future, remember that life is only in the present; turn all your strength upon it, and all your suffering over the past and your anxiety about the future will vanish, and you will feel freedom and joy.
Tolstoy TodayТолстой сегодня · tolstoytoday.org/november/17