Man and Universe
Last updated: September 5, 1998
but still terribly true
Begin and end of the world
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Found in DIKOBRAZ before our era.
The captions are understood without translation...
And you learn three words of the language of Karel Capek. |
Ez emberiségnek könnyei, lemoshatnák az
emberiségnek szennyét? (S.Petöfi).
The tears of mankind, will they suffice to wash off
its shame and infamy?
The Cosmological Principle
- Andromaque a le même battement de cils que Pénélope
says Odysseus to Hector in the peace talks before the
war of Troy in the interpretation of Jean Giraudoux.
- Tuttu lu munnu è comu casa nostra (sicilian).
All the world is like our home.
- Woanders ist es vielleicht anders, aber anders ist es anderswo auch nicht.
- Überall wird mit demselben Wasser gekocht (german).
The same water is used for cooking everywhere.
- Ad ogni santu veni la so festa (sicilian).
Each Saint has its celebration day at last.
- Tutto il mondo è paese (italian).
- Somos, como siempre, al fin de los tiempos
(Borges: La escritura del Dios).
As always, we experience the end of times.
- En todas partes cuecen habas (spanish)
Everywhere beans are in the pots.
The Anticosmological Principle
- Beyond the mountains the grass is more green (english).
- Zhè shan wàng zháo nà shan gao (chinese).
Behind the hill are always higher hills.
Brothers
- Si hai e nai jie jiong di (chinese).
All four seas are in their hearts like
elder and younger brother (see right-hand column).
- Amor di fratello, amor di coltello (italian).
Brother's love, knife's love.
Patience
- Inna'l-Insaana la fi Khusr. Illa'l-ladhina amanu wa amilu's-Salihati wa tawaasau bi'l-Haqqi wa tawaasau bi's-Sabr.
Siehe, die Menschen sind wahrlich verloren außer denen,
die da glauben und das Rechte tun und einander zur Wahrheit mahnen
und Geduld (Muh.103,2-3.).
Mankind is lost save these who believe and act right and
urge truth and patience (see right-hand column).
- Khuliq al insan min 'adzhil
sa warikum 'a yati fala tasutahadzhilun.
Erschaffen ist der Mensch aus Ungeduld (Muh.21,38.).
Man is composed of impatience.
- Si ad ogni cani c'abbaja ci jittamu na petra, petri non ni
restanu cchiu' 'n menzu la strata (sicilian).
Throw a stone at every yarking dog:
no stone will be left for the street.
- A pagare e a morire si è sempre a tempo (italian).
For paying and dying one is always in time.
- As-sabr muftah al faradzh (arabic).
Patience is the key to the good (see right-hand column).
- Xiâo bù rên ze luàn dà mó (chinese).
Big enterprises need a little patience.
- Yù sù zé bù dá (chinese).
More haste, less speed.
- La gata fretolosa la fa i gatei orbi (italian).
The cat in hurry has blind kittens.
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General
- Sed non vetat lex, vetat fieri pudor (Seneca).
Even not prohibited by law, it is forbidden by shame.
- Nihil sapientiae odiosius est acumine nimio (attributed to Seneca by E.A.Poe).
Nothing more annoying for wisdom than too much sharpness.
- Scire volunt omnes, mercedes solvere nemo (Levoca town hall).
Everybody wants to take part in deciding, nobody in paying for.
- Senatores boni viri, senatus autem bestia.
Senators are all benevolent men, nevertheless, the senate is a brute.
- Ogni promessa è debito (italian).
Each promise is a debt.
- Qí hû nán xià (chinese).
Riding on the tiger, it is difficult to dismount.
- Shuo Cao-cáo, Cao-cáo jìn dào (chinese).
When you remind Cao-cao, his army is already at the gate of the town.
- Chi semina vento raccoglie tempesta (italian).
Who sows wind reaps storm.
- Excusatio non petita est accusa manifesta (latin).
An excuse not asked is a manifest accuse.
- Lu fattu è nimicu di lu perfettu (sicilian).
The things done are ennemies of the perfect.
- Petra tirata e palora ditta non ponnu turnari arreri (sicilian).
The stone thrown and the word outspoken cannot be taken back.
- Cu' nasci pi furca non mori pi mari (sicilian).
Who is born for the gibbet will not die in the sea.
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