4Novemberноября · 4-е ноября
Споры всегда больше содействуют затемнению, чем уяснению истины.
Истина должна созреть в уединении. Когда же она созреет, она так ясна, что принимается без спора.
Arguments always do more to darken the truth than to make it clear.
Truth must ripen in solitude. And when it has ripened, it is so clear that it is accepted without argument.
1. Большая сила в человеке, который сумеет промолчать, хотя он и прав.
1. Great is the strength of a man who can keep silent even though he is right.
Cato.
Source not found yet .
Not found yet.
Not found. The nearest classical line is Disticha Catonis I.3 ('Virtutem primam esse puta compescere linguam: proximus ille deo est, qui scit ratione tacere'), which praises silence but lacks Tolstoy's 'though he is right'; not recorded as the source, since the match is too loose to call a candidate.
Searched: Ramage, Beautiful Thoughts from Latin Authors (tacere, silent, compescere); Southgate's Many Thoughts of Many Minds (silent, hold his tongue, keep silence); recall of the Disticha Catonis.
2. Воздержись от спора — спор есть самое невыгодное условие для убеждения. Мнения — как гвозди: чем больше по ним колотить, тем больше они влезают.
2. Refrain from arguing — an argument is the least favorable condition for persuading. Opinions are like nails: the more you hammer at them, the deeper they go in.
Source not found yet .
Not found yet.
Not found in Juvenal. The 'opinions are like nails: the harder you hit them the deeper they go' image does not occur in the Satires as far as can be found; the attribution is doubtful (likely a modern saying misattributed in an anthology).
Searched: Ramage, Beautiful Thoughts from Latin Authors (Juvenal sections, nails, dispute); Southgate's Many Thoughts and Suggestive Thoughts (nails, Juvenal entries); Coit, The Message of Man (nails).
3. Если кто вас опечалил или оскорбил, остерегайтесь возражать, пока вы встревожены, а если необходимо оправдание, то прежде всего успокойте свое душевное волнение.
3. If anyone has grieved or offended you, beware of answering back while you are agitated; and if a justification is needed, first of all calm the agitation of your soul.
From «Благочестивые мысли и наставления для руководства христианина на пути к совершенству» · close to the original .
Original · RussianЕсли кто вас опечалил или оскорбил, остерегайтесь возражать, пока вы встревожены, а если необходимо оправдание, то прежде всего успокойте своё, душевное волнение.
Source text: azbyka.ruDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. «Благочестивые мысли и наставления для руководства христианина на пути к совершенству» (Moscow, 1872 printing; Tolstoy used the 3rd edition, 1879), § II.67.
Tolstoy copies the anthology’s thought word for word (§ II.67). The anthology names no writer for any of its thoughts; its compilers say only that they drew them from the Holy Fathers and other ancient and modern writers.
4. Не утверждайте того, в чем вы не совершенно уверены. Не верьте легко всему, что слышите.
4. Do not assert what you are not entirely sure of. Do not readily believe all that you hear.
From «Благочестивые мысли и наставления для руководства христианина на пути к совершенству» · reworded by Tolstoy .
What changed“What you are quite unsure of” becomes “what you are not entirely sure of,” and “despise no one for his faults” is dropped.
Original · RussianНе утверждайте того, в чём вы совершенно не уверены. Не верьте легко всему, что слышите; не презирайте никого за недостатки.
Source text: azbyka.ruDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. «Благочестивые мысли и наставления для руководства христианина на пути к совершенству» (Moscow, 1872 printing; Tolstoy used the 3rd edition, 1879), § II.85.
From § II.85, with one turn of the words: the anthology’s «в чём вы совершенно не уверены» (what you are quite unsure of) becomes «в чем вы не совершенно уверены» (what you are not quite sure of), a stricter rule. Tolstoy also drops the thought’s last clause, «не презирайте никого за недостатки» (despise no one for his faults).
5. Если ты не можешь тотчас же утишить гнев, удержи язык. Помолчи, и ты скорее успокоишься.
5. If you cannot at once quiet your anger, hold your tongue. Keep silent, and you will calm down the sooner.
From A Christian Directory · shortened by Tolstoy .
Baxter’s own wordsCommand your tongue, and hand, and countenance, if you cannot presently quiet or command your passion. And so you will avoid the greatest of the sin, and the passion itself will quickly be stifled for want of vent.
Source text: gutenberg.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. A Christian Directory (1673), Part I, Christian Ethics, 'Directions practical against sinful Anger', Direction V, Part I, ch. on anger, Direct. V.
Shortened, close in sense: Baxter's 'Command your tongue, and hand, and countenance, if you cannot presently quiet... your passion' becomes 'If you cannot at once quiet your anger, hold your tongue'; 'the passion itself will quickly be stifled for want of vent' becomes 'Be silent, and you will calm down sooner'.
6. Можешь ли ты разумно негодовать на человека, одержимого каким-нибудь отвратительным недугом. Чем он виноват, что его соседство тебе противно. Точно так же относись и к нравственным недугам.
«Но, — скажешь ты, — у человека есть разум, с помощью которого он может сознавать свои пороки». Это верно. Следовательно, и ты обладаешь разумом и можешь разумным обхождением привести ближнего к сознанию своих недостатков; так прояви же свой разум, сумей пробудить в человеке совесть и исцели его слепоту без гнева, нетерпения и надменности.
6. Can you reasonably be indignant at a man possessed by some loathsome disease? How is he to blame that his nearness is repugnant to you? Treat moral diseases in just the same way.
“But,” you will say, “a man has reason, by whose help he can be conscious of his vices.” That is true. Therefore you too have reason, and by reasonable dealing you can bring your neighbor to be conscious of his faults; so show your reason, then: know how to awaken conscience in the man, and heal his blindness without anger, impatience, or arrogance.
From Meditations · reworded by Tolstoy .
What changedStinking armpits become “some loathsome disease”; irony becomes assent.
Original · Ancient GreekΤῷ γράσωνι μήτι ὀργίζῃ, μήτι τῷ ὀζοστόμῳ ὀργίζῃ; τί σοι ποιήσει;
—ἀλλ’ ὁ ἄνθρωπος λόγον ἔχει, φησί, καὶ δύναται συννοεῖν ἐφιστάνων τί πλημμελεῖ.—εὖ σοι γένοιτο· τοιγαροῦν καὶ σὺ λόγον ἔχεις, κίνησον λογικῇ διαθέσει λογικὴν διάθεσιν, δεῖξον, ὑπόμνησον· εἰ γὰρ ἐπαίει, θεραπεύσεις καὶ οὐ χρεία ὀργῆς.
Source text: raw.githubusercontent.comIn English · George Long, 1862Art thou angry with him whose armpits stink? art thou angry with him whose mouth smells foul? What good will this anger do thee?
… but the man has reason, it will be said, and he is able, if he takes pains, to discover wherein he offends; I wish thee well of thy discovery. Well then, and thou hast reason: by thy rational faculty stir up his rational faculty; show him his error, admonish him. For if he listens, thou wilt cure him, and there is no need of anger.
Source text: gutenberg.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Meditations, V.28.
Marcus's coarse image (stinking armpits, foul breath) becomes 'some repulsive ailment'; Tolstoy adds the explicit step 'treat moral ailments the same way' and expands the cure ('awaken his conscience and heal his blindness without anger, impatience or arrogance'). The ironic 'I wish thee well of thy discovery' is turned into plain assent.
7. Слово — ключ сердца. Если разговор ни к чему не ведет, то и одно слово — лишнее.
7. The word is the key of the heart. If a conversation leads nowhere, then even one word is too many.
Source not found yet .
Not found yet.
No source found. T. Tolstaya, «Восточная мудрость» (Посредник, 1903), in the Jubilee source list, is the likely Russian intermediary for the unsigned Eastern sayings; no online copy was found.
Searched: Pauthier, Les quatre livres; Legge Analects; Southgate, Coit.
8. Когда ты один, думай о своих грехах, когда в обществе — забывай чужие грехи.
8. When you are alone, think of your own sins; when you are in company, forget the sins of others.
Source not found yet .
Not found yet.
Matches the popular Chinese couplet 靜坐常思己過，閒談莫論人非 ('sitting quietly, think often of your own faults; in idle talk do not discuss the faults of others'), found in late moral primers (e.g. 增廣賢文), not in the classics; no public-domain copy was consulted. T. Tolstaya, «Восточная мудрость» (Посредник, 1903), in the Jubilee source list, is the likely Russian intermediary for the unsigned Eastern sayings; no online copy was found.
Searched: Pauthier, Les quatre livres; Legge Analects; Southgate, Coit, Tileston.
Чем больше хочется говорить, тем больше опасность, что скажешь дурное.
The more we want to talk, the greater the danger of saying something bad.
Tolstoy TodayТолстой сегодня · tolstoytoday.org/november/4