What is your favourite quotation ?

[Ron]

I would not consider myself an overly “religious” person, but, if I was, there is one quotation that I would gladly accept as the guiding principle in how an individual should conduct him or herself during their lifetime.

The words, written about two thousand years ago by the famous Jewish sage Rabbi Hillel, go something like this (translations vary slightly in every language).


“If I am not for myself, then who will be for me?

And if I am only for myself, what kind of person am I?

And if not now, when?”

(Pirkei Avot 1:14)


My question to my Triestinian friends is twofold.

1. How would you translate the above into both Italian and Triestin?
2. What is your favourite quotation?

Replies in English please

Ciau

Ron

[AdlerTS]

How can I translate if I have to reply in English ?

In my understanding it'is something similar to:



"Se non bado a me stesso, chi lo farà per me?
Se penso però solo a me stesso, che razza di persona sono ?
Se non ora, però, allora quando ?"



"Se non me vardo un poco, chi ghe penserà per mi ?
Se me fazo solo i afari miei, cossa xe de mi ?
Se non me movo, però, cossa speto ?"

[macondo]

I would translate this way. However, I do not quite understand the And if not now, when?” . It is somehow related to the first two questions? Or it's a suggestion of prioritizing the now & here of life?



"Se non bado a me stesso, chi lo farà per me?
Se penso solo a me stesso, che razza di persona sono ?
Se non adesso, quando?"



"Se non me vardo un poco, chi ghe lo fará per mi ?
Se fazo solo i afari mii, cossa xe de mi ?
Se no adesso, quando?"

[Ron]

Hi Marino

I do not quite understand the And if not now, when?”

To me, the quotation has always meant the following:

“If I am not for myself, then who will be for me?

If I fail to have confidence in myself, why should I expect this of others?

And if I am for myself alone, what kind of person am I?

If I think only of myself, what sort of person does that make me?

And if not now, when?”

There is no time like the present...do it now !

[macondo]

The original quotation says:

And if I am only for myself, what kind of person am I?

and this, from my point of view, it is quite different from:

And if I am for myself alone, what kind of person am I?

If I think only of myself, what sort of person does that make me?

Hence:
If I fail to have confidence in myself, why should I expect this of others?
but if I have to become a egotistic (or selfish, or self-centred) person, what that would make of me?
There is no time like the present...do it now !

[ffdt]

[...]And if not now, when?”[...]

to me this means "there is no time except the present...do it now"

in italian "cogli l'attimo" ...

ciau

Franco

[Ron]

Franco

I would like to think that something that I wrote would be debated in this manner nearly 2000 years after it had been written

Thinking about it, the last line "if not now, when" deserved a better interpretation than the one I first gave you.

To confuse you even more, may I give you another favourite quotation that might possibly substitute for the same line.

My second favourite quotation goes "Only action achieves results"

This thread is likely to run & run

Ciau

Ron

[babatriestina]

I remember only one of my favourite quotation a bit similar, and it is an Italian one
"aiutati che il Ciel t'aiuta"
that is

"help yourself as the Heaven helps you" or something like that

[Ron]

My immediate family consists of my wife, myself and our two lovely daughters. When travel started again after WW2, I started collecting pieces of porcelain that showed the following inscription in various languages:

"Two daughters and Mama are three devils for Papa"

I still have the small French Limoge ashtray that says " Deux filles et Mama sont Trois diables pour Papa" and I used to have an Italian piece that said "Due figlie e Mamma sono Tre diavoli per Papà".

I am also reminded that on Page 31 of my Album I took the trouble to record yet another quotation: " L'ospitalità è come un pesce, dopo tre giorni che comincia ad odorare" (although in my Album it actually say "Puzzo")

[nanaia]

Ron, it is not l'ospitalità, but l'ospite (guest) the one who after three days.....puzza
Nanaia

[Ron]

Nania

You are so right !!!

The joke is that if you look at Page 31 of my album it clearly says "L'Ospite".
I went and spoilt it by using a translation tool (Babylon) which incorrectly gave me "l'ospitalità".

Ciau

Ron

[nanaia]

Ron, from a transalator with such a name, what could you expect
You are more than pardoned
Ciao

[ffdt]

R[...]what could you expect[...]

nice point nanaia ;-D ;-D ;-D ;-D ;-D

in my experience all the translation tools are a nightmare ... no one is working in a decent way ... ... until today the human translators have their work still assured ;-D

ciau

Franco

[babatriestina]

And if not now, when?”

(Pirkei Avot 1:14)

The Italian writer Primo Levi, a survivor of Auschwitz, has written a book "Se non ora, quando?"

[Ron]

Ciao Baba

Perfetto !

Ron

[macondo]

Se questo è un uomo

“Voi che vivete sicuri
Nelle vostre tiepide case,
Voi che trovate tornando a sera
Il cibo caldo e visi amici:

Considerate se questo è un uomo
Che lavora nel fango
Che non conosce pace
Che lotta per mezzo pane
Che muore per un sì o per un no.
Considerate se questa è una donna,
Senza capelli e senza nome
Senza più forza di ricordare
Vuoti gli occhi e freddo il grembo
Come una rana d’inverno.

Meditate che questo è stato:
Vi comando queste parole.
Scolpitele nel vostro cuore
Stando in casa andando per via,
Coricandovi alzandovi;
Ripetetele ai vostri figli.

O vi si sfaccia la casa,
La malattia vi impedisca,
I vostri nati torcano il viso da voi.”

Primo Levi

[Ron]

You live secure
In your warm houses,
Who return at evening and find
Hot food and friendly faces

Consider whether this is a man,
Who labours in the mud
Who knows no peace
Who fights for a crust of bread
Who dies at a yes or a no.
Consider whether this is a woman,
Without hair or name
With no more strength to remember
Eyes empty and womb cold
As a fog in winter

Consider that this has been:
I command these words to you.
Engrave them on your hearts
When you are in your house, when you walk on your way,
When you go to bed, when you rise,
Repeat them to your children.
Or may your house crumble,
Disease render you powerless,
Your offspring avert their faces from you.

(Translated by Ruth Feldman and Brian Swann)

Is this the one?

Ciao

Ron

[macondo]

Is this the one?

Ciao

Ron

Yes, Ron. Great translation, by the way.

[refolo]

A little philosophy inclined man's mind to atheism, but depth of philosophy bringers a man's mind about to religion.

Sir Francis Bacon



Maria aka refolo

[AdlerTS]

I would not consider myself an overly “religious” person, but, if I was, there is one quotation that I would gladly accept as the guiding principle in how an individual should conduct him or herself during their lifetime.

I took my time to think about it and I finally say that it's:

"... men love darkness rather than light", John, 3:19