15 (Bilingual) Aphorisms by a Russian Friend, Mikhail Kuzmin
As a lover of short-form writing, I’m always on the lookout for practitioners of the brief arts, from around the world. I was happy to make the acquaintance online of a Russian aphorist, Kuzmin, and share with you, here, his poetic, thoughful one-liners.
Человек так редко бывает самим собой, что его можно и не узнать при встрече!
He is so rarely himself that you might mistake him for someone else.
Страх поэтизирует скуку.
Fear poeticizes boredom.
Если бы не страх перед завтрашним днем, мы бы уже давно жили в будущем.
If we didn’t fear tomorrow we would have lived in the future long ago.
Хватит пророчествовать, пора дать слово людям, вернувшимся из будущего!
Enough prophesying, it’s time to listen to people returning from the future!
Все перепуталось: театр — вечная премьера, жизнь — постоянная репетиция.
Everything is muddled: the theatre is an unending première, life — a constant rehearsal.
Воздушный феодализм: строить воздушные замки чужими руками.
Airy feudalism — getting other people to construct your castles in the air.
Сбежал с тонущего корабля на затонувшую Атлантиду. И теперь счастлив.
He left the sinking ship for the sunken Atlantis. And now he is happy.
Книги, которые мы никогда не прочтем, гораздо лояльнее книг, которые мы никогда не напишем.
Books that we never read are more loyal than books that we never write.
Мечты — морщины юности.
Dreams — the wrinkles of youth.
Наши дети — родители наши ошибок!
Our children are the parents of our errors!
Обидно, когда простудишь горло и потеряешь внутренний голос.
It’s unfortunate when you get a cold and lose your inner voice.
Нужно время, чтобы понять вечность.
You need time to understand eternity.
Чтобы чудо произошло, надо протянуть ему руку помощи.
For a miracle to happen, it needs a helping hand.
—These aphorisms were translated into English by Catriona Bass (author of such books as Inside the Treasure House: A Time in Tibet; Education in Tibet: Policy and practice since 1950 and St. Petersburg (Pan Macmillan, 2008).
Below, are a couple more of Kuzmin’s memorable sentences:
We are afraid not of the dark but of thoughts in the night.
Only a very few of the righteous will get into heaven. The rest will become inspectors of hell."
Yahia, I'm so glad you have Russian friends out there ))
Maybe you've heard of "The mysterious Russian soul", it's quite a concept and a puzzle that people are making attempts to solve and yet don't manage ) that's why it remains "mysterious". So, I think that the kind of thoughts of Russian people, you presented in the post, are those hints for solving the puzzle of the Russian soul!
This one struck me the most:
Poetical, wise and beautiful in general!!!!!I’m glad these found you; I was hoping you would :)
As I might’ve mentioned to you, I’ve much admiration for Russian literature— the world classics—and, am happy to discover moderns :)
If I had to describe “the Russian Soul” based on my readings & people I know, I’d say: profound, emotional (almost sentimental), intimate understanding of suffering & with a savage humor!
Wonderful translations! Thank you for sharing! :-)
It’s my privilege to share literature from other cultures (as a form of art diplomacy)
Thank you, @robyneggs, for resteeming it 🙏🏼
I find humor in this but at the same time wisdom.
If creativity is found in boredom, I want to be bored more and more :D
It is ironic because time and eternity goes hand in hand, almost the same. Does this mean we can never understand?
Or the answers to our dreams. :D
I sometimes fear what happens when the lights go out. However, I get excited when it gets dark if you know what I mean :D
Humor and wisdom are not, of course, mutually exclusive — you can have both ;)
Thank you, for engaging with these; your responses made me think & smile :)
I am sure you have more insightful words 😊
Not more, perhaps, other :) Wishing you a good, meaningful day 🙏🏼
I love how blunt some of these are; "listen to people returning from the future!"
So energetic with optimism :) Nice to get an introduction to some more aphorists. I knew next to nothing about the style before I joined steemit and they are starting to grow on me a lot!
What a lovely way of putting it: energetic with optimism (& not the sort of thing you, typically, associate with Russian literature).
Happy you share my enthusiasm for the form — which makes sense, gifted as you are with micro-poetry.
“Blunt” is a good word for aphorisms/ists; they tend to make their case and get outta there :)
I know right? Dostoevsky missed a trick there, clearly ;)
Oh, Fyodr can be darkly funny (Notes from the Underground is savage stuff ;)
I love Dostoevsky, Yahia& Lazarus! Couldn't not react) It's a writer of the Russian soul I mentioned earlier. You may take any of his masterpieces, and you'll see it, the soul!!!!! 'Crime and Punishment', 'Idiot', the one you mentioned too...
Yes, I’m a big admirer of Dostoevsky & think him more than just a novelist: psychologist, philosopher & mystic 🙏🏼
You know his "where there is no God - everything is allowed"? It's one of the quotes I fell in love with along with "Beauty will save the world", I believe it was him who said this as well...
And I admire your awareness, Yahia!
Yes, of course, that’s why I consider him a moral philosopher (as did Nietzsche). Giant, Romantic soul... one of the world greats 🙏🏼
"For a miracle to happen, it needs a helping hand." Thats absolutely true. I waited for years for miracles to happen, but nothing happened. Once I moved, many miracles happened. It is all about us taking the first step :)
Good example, thanks, for sharing it (I’ve had similar experiences)!
We are co-partners in our miracles. ✨🙏🏼🤣
Hhhh absolutely!
"Если бы не страх перед завтрашним днем, мы бы уже давно жили в будущем.
If we didn’t fear tomorrow we would have lived in the future long ago."
Talking about things like these are an unspoken taboo.... those of us who are more thoughtful about these kind of things try to talk about this with others.. but they think of us as crazy or oversmart..
wonderful writing...
Crazy or oversmart is the price visionaries pay, until their ideas are accepted as commonplace :)
Glad something, here, resonated with you ✌🏼
Good aphorisms. I can read them in Russian :)
Happy to hear it! That’s the beauty of an international platform, like Steem :)
Love.Love.Love.
:)
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