1Octoberоктября · 1-е октября
Мудрость не боится незнания, не боится сомнений, не боится труда, исследования, боится одного: утверждения того, что она знает, чего не знает.
Wisdom does not fear ignorance, does not fear doubts, does not fear labor, inquiry; it fears one thing: asserting that it knows what it does not know.
1. Надо много учиться, чтобы сознать, что знаешь мало.
1. One must study a great deal to become aware that one knows little.
From Pensées diverses · reworded by Tolstoy .
What changedMontesquieu’s “pour savoir peu,” to know a little, becomes “to become aware that one knows little”: a remark on how little long study yields becomes the realization of one’s own ignorance.
Tolstoy’s own version · На каждый деньНадо много учиться, чтобы сознать, что знаешь мало. Монтескье.
Source text: tolstoy.ruDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Pensées diverses, Œuvres complètes, ed. Laboulaye, t. VII (Paris: Garnier, 1879), «Variétés»; the line directly before the thought of 5-27.5.
Montesquieu's line, its sense turned. 'Il faut avoir beaucoup étudié pour savoir peu' (one must have studied much to know a little) becomes «чтобы сознать, что знаешь мало» (to realize that one knows little): Montesquieu's remark on how little long study yields becomes the realization of one's own ignorance. The signature is a slip of the name. The line stands in Montesquieu's Pensées diverses directly before 'J'aime les paysans', which the Circle's printed editions also signed «Монтэнь» (27 May, 5-27.5) and the Jubilee editors corrected to «Монтескье»; here they left the signature. Tolstoy himself wrote «Монтень» for Montesquieu in a note of 1907 (vol. 40 commentary: «Монтень [описка; нужно — Монтескье]»), and in На каждый день (19 April, no. 9) he printed the Circle's wording under «Монтескье» (tolstoy). For the Montesquieu he added to Rusanov's La Bruyère in 1907 he translated the same line closer to the French: «Надо много учиться, чтобы знать хоть немного» (to know at least a little; vol. 40, «Избранные мысли Монтескье», no. 10). Cotton's English Montaigne was searched for the thought without result. No public-domain English of Montesquieu's line was found.
2. Никогда не стыдись спрашивать о том, чего не знаешь.
Всегда говори правду, хотя бы ты и знал, что она будет неприятна.
Тот, кто учен, но не прилагает к делу своей учености, подобен человеку, который пахал бы, но не сеял.
2. Never be ashamed to ask about what you do not know.
Always speak the truth, even if you know that it will be unpleasant.
Whoever is learned but does not put his learning to use is like a man who plowed but did not sow.
From The Sacred Anthology · shortened by Tolstoy .
What Tolstoy read · The Sacred AnthologyYou must not be ashamed to ask what you do not …
Invariably speak the truth, even when you are aware of its being disagreeable.
He who learns sciences, and does not practise what they teach, resembles a man who digs, but does not sow.
Albitis, F. The Morality of all Nations. Manchester. 1850.
Source text: archive.orgRelated · Saadi, Golestan, ch. 8, maxim 38هر که علم خواند و عمل نکرد بدان ماند که گاو راند و تخم نیفشاند.
Source text: api.ganjoor.netDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. The Sacred Anthology (1874), p. 312, no. CCCCXCIX, Maxims, margin 'Arabic. (Albitis.)'.
Three of the eleven maxims of Conway's section 'Maxims' (no. CCCCXCIX), the first, sixth, and seventh, in his order and close to his English. 'You must not be ashamed to ask what you do not know' becomes «Никогда не стыдись спрашивать о том, чего не знаешь» (never be ashamed to ask), and 'a man who digs, but does not sow' becomes «человеку, который пахал бы, но не сеял» (a man who would plough but not sow). Saadi's Golestan has the same saying with the plough: 'whoever studied knowledge and did not practise it is like one who drove the oxen and did not scatter the seed' (ch. 8, maxim 38; Gladwin, in Conway's no. CCIII: 'resembleth him who ploughed, but did not sow'). Conway's margin reads 'Arabic. (Albitis.)', and his list of authorities names the book: F. Albitis, The Morality of all Nations (Manchester, 1850), not found online, so the maxims' Arabic was not traced. The printed editions of the Circle signed the entry «Арабский Албитис»; the Jubilee editors made it «Арабское (Албитис)», following Conway, as they did for January's 1-24.5 from the same book. Not in Thoughts of Wise Men (1903).
3. Кто исследует историю философии и естествознания, тот найдет, что величайшие открытия были сделаны людьми, считавшими лишь вероятным то, что всеми признавалось за несомненное.
3. Whoever examines the history of philosophy and natural science will find that the greatest discoveries were made by people who considered merely probable what everyone accepted as beyond doubt.
From Vermischte Schriften, vol. II · close to the original .
Original · GermanWer die Geſchichte der Philoſophie und Naturlehre betrachten will, wird finden, daß die größten Entdeckungen von Leuten ſind gemacht worden, die das fuͤr bloß woͤhrſcheinlich hielten, was Andere für gewiß ausgegeben haben; …
Source text: archive.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Vermischte Schriften, vol. II (Göttingen, 1801), Bemerkungen vermischten Inhalts, 1: Philosophische Bemerkungen, p. 46.
The first clause of Lichtenberg's sentence, closely: whoever will consider the history of philosophy and natural science will find that the greatest discoveries were made by people who held merely probable what others had given out as certain. Tolstoy's «всеми признавалось за несомненное» (was acknowledged by all as certain) widens 'Andere' (others) to everyone. Lichtenberg goes on: so, properly, by adherents of the New Academy, which held the mean between the Stoic's strict certainty and the Sceptic's uncertainty and indifference; Tolstoy stops before it. The scan reads 'woͤhrſcheinlich' for 'wahrſcheinlich'. The Jubilee list of the Circle's sources names Lichtenberg's Ausgewählte Schriften (Leipzig, 1879), not seen. No public-domain English was found.
4. Всё испытывайте, хорошего держитесь.
4. Test all things, hold to what is good.
From 1 Thessalonians · close to the original .
The Russian Bible (Synodal translation)Все испытывайте, хорошего держитесь.
Source text: ru.wikisource.orgIn English · King James Version, 1611Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
Source text: gutenberg.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. 1 Thessalonians, 5:21.
The Synodal text word for word, printed in italics; the Circle spells «Всё» with ё where the Wikisource text has «Все». Not in Thoughts of Wise Men (1903), «На каждый день», or «Путь жизни» (the saved Jubilee vols. 40, 43, and 45).
5. В духовной пище нет недостатка; недостает лишь способности вбирать ее в себя. Не по недостатку воздуха не может дышать умирающий человек, а по недостатку способности усваивать его. Все элементы — физические, умственные и духовные, которые были или когда-либо будут в мире, — находятся в нем и теперь. Дело мудрости понять, как овладеть ими.
5. There is no lack of spiritual food; all that is lacking is the capacity to take it in. It is not for lack of air that a dying man cannot breathe, but for lack of the capacity to assimilate it. All the elements — physical, mental, and spiritual — that have been or ever will be in the world are in it now as well. The work of wisdom is to understand how to master them.
From The World's Advance-Thought and the Universal Republic · reworded by Tolstoy .
What changedMallory’s “spiritual power,” which “surrounds us on every hand” and must be breathed in, becomes “spiritual food,” so the thought that opens on breath opens on food, and “a lack of capacity to inspire it” becomes the capacity “to take it in”; “to know how to employ and use them” becomes “to understand how to master them.”
Lucy Mallory’s own wordsThere is no lack of spiritual power; it surrounds us on every hand; but there is a lack of capacity to inspire it.
It is not for lack of air that the dying man cannot breathe, but for his lack of capacity to . assimilate it.
All the elements--physical, mental and spiritual--that have been or ever will be in the universe are in it now.
It is merely a question of wisdom to know how to employ and use them.
Source text: iapsop.comDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. The World's Advance-Thought and the Universal Republic (ed. Lucy A. Mallory, Portland, Oregon), vol. XIV, New Series, no. 11, December 1901, The column 'Key Thoughts' (pp. 164–165), its last paragraph, signed '--Lucy A, Mallory'.
Mallory's own, signed by her. Changed in its first words: her 'spiritual power' becomes 'spiritual food' (В духовной пище нет недостатка), and her clause 'it surrounds us on every hand' is left out, so the thought that opens on breath now opens on food; 'a lack of capacity to inspire it' (to breathe it in) becomes 'only the capacity to take it in is lacking' (недостает лишь способности вбирать ее в себя). The dying man who lacks the capacity to assimilate air is kept. 'In the universe' becomes 'in the world' (в мире), and 'It is merely a question of wisdom to know how to employ and use them' becomes 'The work of wisdom is to understand how to master them' (Дело мудрости понять, как овладеть ими). No printable.
6. Истинная мудрость не в том, чтобы знать, что хорошо и что должно делать, а в том, чтобы знать, что самое хорошее, что менее хорошее, и потому, что надо прежде и что после делать.
6. True wisdom lies not in knowing what is good and what ought to be done, but in knowing what is best, what is less good, and therefore what must be done first and what after.
Содержание мудрости больше отрицательное, чем положительное: знать, что неразумно, что незаконно, что не должно.
The content of wisdom is more negative than positive: to know what is unreasonable, what is unlawful, what ought not to be done.
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