Really a treasure trove proverbs in Russian collected by Vladimir Ivanovich Dahl back in 1862. In the two-volume collection of the Russian writer and linguist, all sayings are divided by topic. One of the most extensive is “Language-speech”. Since the main source of material was the speech of the Russian people, we can say with confidence that everything proverbs from this thematic group - about the Russian language. Let us list the most interesting and capacious of them:
He who storms with his tongue will not fight much.
Language is an anchor to the body. The tongue talks to God.
The tongue is small, but it controls the whole body.
A small tongue makes a great man move.
A small tongue moves mountains. With a tongue like a stag.
The tongue is the banner, it leads the squad. Language moves kingdoms.
The tongue gives the message to the tongue.
The tongue gives the answer to the tongue, but the head realizes.
The tongue feeds the head.
The tongue feeds bread and spoils the matter.
What language can't agree on! Tongue, adversary, my destroyer!
The language is the same, both on weekdays and on holidays.
Language will take you to Kyiv.
God gave two ears and one tongue.
Your own language, your own speaking (pronunciation, pronunciation).
With his tongue he weaves like bobbins. Weaves lace with his tongue.
Don't be quick with your words, be quick with your actions.
Don't be hasty in your language, and don't be lazy in your actions.
My tongue is tossing and turning, I want to speak.
Don't be afraid of the knife, just the tongue. The razor scrapes, but the word cuts.
You can't keep up with your tongue barefoot.
The tongue prowls ahead of the mind.
The tongue is soft: whatever it wants, it babbles (what it doesn’t want, it babbles).
Without a tongue and the bell is mute.
It is better to stumble with your foot than with your tongue.
You can't tell it with your tongue, you can't spread it with your fingers.
Talk with your tongue, but don’t give in to your hands!
Use your tongue as you like, but don’t use your hands.
My tongue is my enemy. Your tongue is your first adversary.
He beats with his tongue (woman), which beats the wool with a vein string.
Proverbs on the topic of the Russian language
Without the Russian language you can’t make even a boot.
Russian language is the strength of the weak!
The Russian language is great and powerful.
Without the Russian language you cannot defeat the most dangerous enemy.
Do not penetrate the enemy with a spear, penetrate with a kind Russian language.
The tongue is small, but it controls the whole body.
The word is silver, silence is gold.
A sharp word pricks the heart.
The tongue talks to God.
The tongue is the banner, it leads the squad. Language moves kingdoms.
The tongue gives the message to the tongue.
One says red, two say motley.
He says how the river flows.
Speech is beautiful through listening (and conversation through humility).
I sit by the stove and listen to people's speeches.
Know a lot, but know little! It's not appropriate to fight too much.
Rather than lie, it’s better to scratch yourself in silence.
We all talk, but not everything comes out as said.
Everything shows up soon, but not everything is done quickly.
You can’t keep up with the wind in the field; You can't make up for every word.
To remain silent is not to let things end. I don't understand your hint.
Don't pierce with a spear, pierce with your tongue!
A living word is more valuable than a dead letter.
Good speech is good to listen to. Red speech is red and listen.
Let’s sit side by side and talk (and interpret) well.
And the conversation is short, but honest.
The field is red with millet, and the conversation is with the mind.
Talking to you makes me drunk.
I wish I could drink honey through your lips.
Whatever makes someone happy, that’s what he talks about.
Whatever hurts someone, that’s what they talk about.
There is, in a word, sweet as honey; but no, the word is bitter like wormwood.
He sits there, like a candle is burning, and says that he is giving him a ruble.
Short speeches and there’s nothing to listen to.
The word is not a sparrow: if it flies out, you won’t catch it.
You can hold the horse on the reins, but you can’t take the words out of your mouth.
Once you shoot, you won’t catch the bullet, and when you say a word, you won’t catch it.
By the way, to remain silent is a big word to say.
Friendly words will not dry up your tongue.
An affectionate word makes a bone ache.
There is a lot of chalk, but no grinding (that is, there is no point in speeches).
He won’t reach into his pocket for words.
He talked like three boxes. It would babble, but would not doze.
You speak according to advice (secretly, according to advice), but it will come out all over the world.
The pig will tell the hog, and the hog will tell the whole city.
If the hen knew, the neighbor would know too.
Eloquent, like our Feklist. More babbling (more noisy) than a hen.
If one speaks, then two look and two listen (that is, two eyes, two ears and one mouth).
No matter how much you interpret, you can’t reinterpret everything.
Proverbs and sayings are also a necessary artistic element of the language of literary works. They are used by writers to characterize characters, express the author’s attitude to events, emphasize the development of action, and contribute to the creation of national color. Thus, in Melnikov’s story “The Krasilnikovs,” the proverbs in the merchant’s speech clearly characterize the life situation. They reveal the tragic meaning of Krasilnikov’s experiences: “Without children, grief, and with them twice,” “Teach him (son - A.F.), while lying across the bench; If he grows up and stretches out to his full potential, then there’s no stopping him.” Psychological collisions that are absent in the story are conveyed using proverbs: “The mind is beyond the seas, but grief is behind the shoulders,” “Human happiness is like water in delirium.” Proverbs and sayings are mainly pronounced by the main character and reveal the spiritual sphere of his life. In describing his father’s grief, the author turns to figurative folk poetry: “You can’t scoop up the depths of the sea with a hat, you can’t dry your own father’s bloody tears! I got drunk with troubles, got drunk with tears!” - this is how Melnikov expressed the psychological state of a person, the human tragedy of a hero, in the words of folk phraseology. 46
IN AND. Dahl in his stories also relies on proverbs and sayings: “It’s good everywhere where we are not”, “Out of the blue”, “Beat a Russian - he’ll make a clock”, etc.
In the speech of the heroes A.F. Pisemsky includes proverbs: “Need jumps, need dances, need sings songs,” “It’s time not to roll logs, but to tear up bast and lie on the stove.”
Speech of the heroes S.V. Maksimova is replete with proverbs and sayings: “Shallow, Emelya is your week”, “Our guys’ hands don’t hurt”, “If you know a lot, you’ll sleep little”, “It’s not he who speaks, but the hops that create the routine for him.”
The soul of the Russian people is song. Traditional peasant lyrics remain an aesthetic model for writers. It reflects the best, primordial that is in the character of the peasant: hard work, poetic soul, daring. It plays an extremely important ideological and aesthetic role in the stories and essays of writers about the life of the people, acting as an element of folk culture.
According to the populist fiction writer F.D. Nefedov, the song responds to all the sounds of life, introduces it into the life of the people, and correlates with its customs and rituals. Traditional folk song, according to Nefedov, is beautiful. It is full of “bewitching power” and poetic. This is a truly folk creation, coming from the depths of his soul.
Nefedov writes about the song:
“I remember, I remember this enchanting power of our native song! It is heard, sometimes, in a quiet hour of the night. So she fell silent, flew away somewhere with the pre-dawn breeze, and you still don’t stop listening to her, it’s still as if she sounds and sinks into the very depths of the human soul.” 47
Folk songs and, above all, lyrical ones, according to Nefedov, have enormous civic potential. He writes that listening to them, you feel that personal grief is nothing in comparison with the people's grief. He connects his ideas about national character with a belief in hidden “some enormous forces, in the triumph of victory, which promised a bright future for the people” 48 . He believes in the strength, stability, vitality of the traditions of folk antiquity: “It will suddenly emerge from the waves of life that have overwhelmed it with stories about the wonders of the past and again become common property.” 48 The writer is convinced that the spring of folk art is inexhaustible, it flows like a living stream.
Being the soul of the Russian people, the song is widely included in the works of writers. It is sung by peasants in Pisemsky's stories. Pisemsky depicts a picture of village youth partying:
“These walks in our area cannot be said to be animated: the women and girls stand more, look at each other, and after a long, long time getting ready and changing their minds, they will finally dance in a round dance and sing the immortal: “Like on the sea, like on the sea.” ..”» 49
A subtle observer who notices everything, Pisemsky records all the details of the round dance:
“One of the girls, putting a cap on her head, will introduce the guy who killed the swan, and the other - the red maiden who is picking up the feathers of the killed swan for her friend’s pillow, or dividing into two cities, they walk towards each other and sing: alone: “And we are millet sowed and sowed,” others said, “And we’ll trample down the millet, trample it down.” 50
The girls also conjure spring in the story “The Peasant Year” by P.I. Yakushkina:
“With clean towels on their heads, with ribbons in their braids, in white linen shirts, in smart panevas... the girls sing songs:
“Spring is red, What did it come with, What did it come with, Did it come, did it come? On a black mare - With a plow, with a harrow! 50
The peasants of G.I. also sing the song. Uspensky. Peasants go to the village, to their native and close places. The paintings surrounding them evoke a feeling of belonging to their native land. It results in the original Russian sad song that they sing: “Have you had a drink, my little head? Have you had a drink or taken a walk?” And quick landscape sketches: the wind coming from the field, light rain, the cold of the night psychologically strengthen this picture. “The wind coming from the field lightly sprinkles a fine rain and with its smooth draft lulls and lulls the hard-working people... The cold of the night sometimes makes you shrug your shoulders, but does not at all prevent you from singing the same song and lightly playing the harmonica:
And they began to cut and shave me, a good fellow. Just shave my curls, shave, don’t be sorry...” 51
Yakov the Turk also sings the song in the story by I.S. Turgenev "Singers" - "Not alone in the field path." And Matyushka, a young factory worker, in the essay by V.A. Sleptsov’s “Vladimirka and Klyazma”, as well as the “song” heroine “Nastya the Song” in the story by N.S. Leskova "The Life of a Woman".
Songs sound in Caucasian stories by L.N. Tolstoy, as well as in the story “Cossacks”. Here they are sung in a round dance (Tolstoy introduces two round dance songs: “Because of the little forest, the dark forest”, “Like behind the garden”), as well as Lukashka and Eroshka. “Cossacks” are imbued with the elements of folk art. Tolstoy organically weaves elements of folk art into the fabric of the work, forcing them to serve the identification of characters and the tasks of ideological disclosure of the story. Cossack songs are included in the text in full and in fragments by the writer. They are sung by his heroes Lukashka and Eroshka. The village wakes up with songs, work goes on with songs, the Cossacks leave and return from campaigns with them:
“It was already dark. Smoke came from the chimneys of the huts and, merging with the fog, spread over the village. There were lights in the windows here and there. The smell of dung, chapra and fog was in the air. Talking, laughter, songs and the cracking of seeds sounded also mixed, but more clearly than at night.” 52
Folk songs are an expression of folk life and reveal the psychological nuances of the hidden actions of the hero. The songs complement the psychological portraits of people from the people, revealing their inner world, which is difficult to detect under normal conditions. So, Eroshka, outwardly a joker in public, with his allegorical language, jokes and jokes, a sage and philosopher in everyday affairs, in fact, tragically experiences his loneliness. Eroshka’s innermost experiences are revealed by the folk song “A di-di-di-di-di-li.” Ethnographic details help reveal the character of the old Cossack. Ethnographic truth is in no way opposed to either poetic painting or penetration into the depths of personal psychology. As the author says, this is an old real Cossack and Tatar song. Appeal to folk art, the closeness of the heroes to it, deepens the display of the hero’s inner world, reveals the secrets of spiritual experiences. Eroshka completely surrenders to the power of the song, his voice trembles, the old man falls silent, cries, “there were tears in his eyes, and one flowed down his cheek.” The sad, howling, soul-grabbing refrain was repeated several times by the old man, and all the feelings that had accumulated in him were expressed in his impulse - to jump out onto the porch and fire his last words from both barrels into the air. 53 Tolstoy introduces choral songs into the text when the events of the story reach their climax. The song predicts the future of the heroes. The girls' song reveals what Eroshka's humorous song had already foreshadowed - "On Monday he fell in love." The song that Lukashka sings conveys the full depth of his experiences. The image of a falcon from a folk song (flying away from a golden cage) echoes the freedom-loving nature of the young Cossack:
“From the village of Izmailova, From Sudarev’s beloved little garden, There a clear falcon flew out of the little garden...”
In Caucasian stories it sounds like “Lady”.
Tolstoy's song affirms the idea of the purity of the moral sense of the people.
Folklore - the roots and origins of Russian literature, that inexhaustible source, from which, from century to century, our culture draws treasures of folk poetry, wisdom, and aesthetic perfection. Merging with literature, saturating it with folklore genres, folk-poetic images, folklore is an expression of folk national tradition, the spirit of the people, its moral and aesthetic values.
Proverbs and sayings arose in ancient times and accompanied the life of any nation throughout its history.
Since ancient times, every nation has used proverbs and sayings in their speech, which reflect the long process of development of the culture of the people, the spirit and originality of the nation.
Proverbs represent folk wisdom, a set of rules of life, practical philosophy, and the historical memory of different peoples.
On the other hand, a proverb is the most curious genre of folklore, studied by many scientists. It still continues to arouse scientific interest.
Over the years, publications of the Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language provide the reader with modified formulations of the concept of proverb. For example, in a modern source, a proverb is understood as a short folk saying with edifying content, a folk aphorism.
In the “Dictionary of Terms” there is often an electronic version of the definition of a proverb as a short stable expression, mainly figurative, which, unlike a saying, does not constitute a complete statement.
Due to this, the purpose of our research is an attempt to analyze the use of proverbs and sayings when describing the personality of a literary character in English and Russian works of art.
During the writing of the work, we decided the following research objectives- summarize the characteristic features of English and Russian proverbs and sayings, consider ways to characterize the heroes of works of art using the proverbs and sayings used.
As object of study English and Russian proverbs and sayings were chosen
Many writers turned to proverbs in their works. English proverbs are varied in their content and cover all aspects of the life of the English people.
For example, proverbs often condemn war: « war is the sport of kings» - "war - the sport of kings", i.e. war is needed by the kings, not the people.
Proverbs in English teach frugality and hard work: « a penny saved is a penny gained» - “didn’t spend a penny - that means it’s earned.”, « take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves» - “Take care of the penny, and the pounds will save themselves"(in the Russian version it sounds like “a penny saves the ruble”).
On the other hand, slackers and unemployed people are heavily criticized: « idleness is the root of all evil» - “idleness - the mother of all vices".
Many proverbs contain a positive assessment: « brevity is the soul of wit» - "brevity" - the soul of the mind" , « good health is above wealth» - “health is more important than money”, « a great ship asks deep waters» - “a big ship has a long voyage”, « little strokes fell great oaks» - “weak blows fell strong oaks”(in the Russian version it will sound like "patience and labor will grind everything down" And “a drop of water wears away a stone”).
The meaning of English proverbs can be either completely or partially rethought. For example, proverbs with a metaphorical meaning of one component are considered: « calamity is a man’ s touchstone» - “a person is known in trouble".
Let's look at the proverbs « like begets like» - "The apple never falls far from the tree", « like cures like» - "fight fire with fire". In these proverbs the word like stands at the beginning and end, forming a frame. Such repetition is quite rare in English proverbs and is called circular.
In English there are proverbs with two metaphorical components: « speech is silver, but silence is golden» - “word is silver, silence is gold”.
In English proverbs it is also possible to have a metaphorical phrase: « life is not a bed of roses» - “live life - don’t cross the field”.
When analyzing English proverbs, we identified proverbs with a comparative meaning: « blood is thicker than water» - “blood is not water”, « words hurt more than swords» - "gossips - sharp sword".
A characteristic feature of English proverbs and sayings is unambiguousness. Based on this, we can say that a saying is a communicative unit. Therefore, most sayings are colloquial in nature. In the English language, unlike Russian, there are much fewer sayings than proverbs.
Proverbs can express not only a positive, but also a negative assessment, and in a rather rude form.
Positive sayings: « may your shadow never grow less!» - “I wish you good health for many years to come!”, « more power to your elbow!» - “I wish you success, I wish you good luck!”.
Sayings with a negative and sarcastic assessment: « does your mother know you are out?» - “the milk on your lips has not dried”.
English non-judgmental sayings are rare: « what’ s up?» - “what happened, what’s going on?”.
Foreign and Russian writers often characterize the various personal characteristics of the heroes of their works with the help of proverbs and sayings.
Thus, the famous Russian fabulist I. A. Krylov, using proverbs and sayings, gave the language and style of fables a folk character and flavor: “And Vaska listens and eats”(Cat and cook) "crow in peacock feathers"(Crow).
The hero of L. N. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace,” Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, pronounces the truth that illuminated the path for people forever, expressed in the Bible: “love your neighbor, love your enemies”.
He came to realize love in all its manifestations. He loved both Natasha Rostova and even his enemy Napoleon with Divine love. He experienced the joy of the fact that he could love a person dear to him with human love, and he could love his enemy with Divine love.
He reflects on the fact that if you love with human love, you can move from love to hate. But Divine love will not change, and nothing can destroy it, because it is the essence of the soul.
The hero of A.P. Chekhov’s story “Ionych”, Dmitry Ionych Startsev, characterizes his life, which has lost its meaning for him, with the help of a saying "day and night - a day away".
At the beginning of his working career as a zemstvo doctor, Ionych shows interest and respect for his patients, although later, unable to withstand the tests, he degrades as a person. Gradually, he becomes inattentive and sometimes rude to his patients, and works only for the purpose of profit.
Many foreign writers also widely used proverbs and sayings in their works.
Shakespeare was England's greatest humanist playwright. His work is the pinnacle of Renaissance literature. In the tragedy Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare used proverbs « boil- leave» - "boil" - you will leave", « a bold- rested moving» - “and the brave will resist - don’t move”.
American writer R. L. Stevenson in the story “Black Arrow” used a proverb in the dialogue of the characters: « when it hurts, remember the old shoe» - “When a callus hurts, they remember old shoe".
The famous English writer J. London in the story “White Fang” used the following proverb in the dialogue of his characters: « who’ s afraid of whipping, he’ s like whipped» - “whoever is afraid of a spanking is as good as a whipping”.
Proverbs often characterize the relationship between a person’s appearance and inner world. We are interested in the hero of S. Sheldon’s novel “Midnight Memories”, lawyer Sheldon. In the work the author uses the proverb "eyes - the mirror of one's heart".
Using this proverb, lawyer Sheldon draws the court's attention to the fact that a woman with an open and clear look cannot kill a person.
Although, the main character of the novel - a charming young woman - only thanks to a happy accident manages to avoid becoming a victim of a bloody murder.
Summing up the results of just a small study, we can say that the rich historical experience of the people is reflected in proverbs and sayings.
The use of proverbs and sayings gives speech a unique originality and special artistic and literary expressiveness.
Proverbs and sayings of any nation are ambiguous and vivid. They are outside of time, outside of that class division in which the boundaries of rich and poor are lost, that is, they are pronounced by both rich people and people of the lower strata of society.
Proverbs and sayings in the English language are quite difficult to translate into Russian, because the true and deep meaning of the spoken phrase is lost.
As the study shows, in the Russian language it is still possible to find equivalents to English proverbs and sayings.
Therefore, in everyday life, you need to use proverbs and sayings as often as possible, if only to make your speech richer and more beautiful.
Literature:
1. Proverb. Wikipedia. Free encyclopedia. // URL: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proverb (date accessed 10/05/2015).
2. Dubrovin M.I. Collection of proverbs and sayings in five languages: Russian, English, French, Spanish, German. - M.: Rosman, 1998. - p.5–12.
3. Ozhegov S.I. Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. - M.: Peace and Education, 2012. - 1376 p.
4. Proverbs and sayings. Development area. // URL: http://psy.biz.ua/ritorika/23-poslovicy-i-pogovorki.html (access date 10/05/2015).
5. Kunin A.V. Large English-Russian phraseological dictionary. - M.: Russian language. - 945 s.
6. Shakespeare W. Hamlet: In Search of the Original. / Translation, preparation of the original text, comments and introductory article by Peshkova I. V. / Translation ed. Shelogurova G.N. - M., Labyrinth, 2003. - 224 p.
7. Rapoport N.V., Abdullina R.G. Proverbs and sayings in linguodidactics: Textbook. - Ufa: Bashkir State University, 2001. - 44 p.
8. Kruglov Yu. G. Russian folk riddles, proverbs, sayings. - M.: Education, 1990. - 336 p.
9. Krylov I. A. Fables. - M.: Azbuka-Atticus, 2015. - 96 p.
10. Tolstoy L.N. War and Peace (set of 2 books). - M.: Azbuka, 2014. - 1408 p.
11. Chekhov A. P. Ionych. - M., 2013. - 48 p.
12. Shakespeare. Tragedies. - M.: Azbuka, 2014. - p.5–126.
13. Stevenson R. L. Black Arrow. - M.: AST, 2008. - 320 p.
14. London D. White Fang. - M.: House Reader's Digest, 2008. - 352 p.
15. Sheldon S. Midnight Memories. - M.: AST, 2010. - 384 p.
Books don't tell, but they tell the truth.
The book is good, but the readers are bad.
Those who know more will get the books.
A book is a book, but move your mind.
Some books enrich you, while others lead you astray.
Living with a book is a breeze.
The book is small, but it gave me some ideas.
One book teaches a thousand people.
A day without a book is like a day without sun.
A smart book is like rain in a drought for a person.
If you get used to the book, you will gain intelligence.
A good book is your best friend.
Some books will add to your mind, others will turn you off.
A book is your friend, without it it’s like having no hands.
You know, as soon as you get the books, you get the books in your hands.
Loving books is not a waste of time.
The best gift is a book.
The book brings science, not boredom.
The book is both healing and invigorating.
When you read a book, you feel like you are flying on wings.
He who reads a lot knows a lot.
Trishka still has no time for books.
The book is small, but it will add a lot to your mind.
A book is like water - it will make its way everywhere.
If you take a book on the road, you will never be bored.
Riddles about books
Who speaks silently? Book
Not a person, but telling? Book
Not a bush, but with leaves,
Not a shirt, but sewn,
Not a person, but a storyteller. ( Book)
This article presents Russian folk proverbs and sayings about books and reading.
See: Proverbs and sayings on other topics
Russian folk proverbs and sayings about books and reading
- The book decorates in happiness, and consoles in misfortune.
- A book is not beautiful in its writing, but in its mind.
- If you read books, you will know everything.
- The pen is big, but it writes big books.
- In a book, look not for letters, but for thoughts.
- He reads and flies, but he doesn’t understand anything.
- Reading is the best learning.
- Choose a book like you choose a friend.
- Some books enrich you, and others lead you astray.
- Some books will add to your mind, others will turn you off.
- A book is food for the mind.
- A book is to the mind what warm rain is to sunrise.
- Books are different: one teaches, the other torments.
- A book is a book, but move your mind.
- To whom a book is entertainment, and to whom it is teaching.
- The root of the teaching is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.
- It's better to be a good reader than a bad writer.
- Living with a book is a breeze.
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The books of the ancients are written for authors, the new books are written for public readers. Charles-Louis Montesquieu
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If a book elevates the soul, instilling in it courage and noble impulses, judge it only by these feelings; it is excellent and created by the hand of a master. Jean de La Bruyère
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There are books from which you can learn about everything and understand nothing. Johann Wolfgang Goethe
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There are books that need only to be tasted, there are those that are best swallowed, and only a few are worth chewing and digesting; in other words, some books should be read only partially, others without much diligence, and only a few - completely and carefully.Francis Bacon
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When you read the books of long-dead writers, you are always overcome by a strange feeling: these people, who lived two hundred, three hundred, two thousand years ago, are now so far away - no matter where they are - from what they once wrote on earth: and we in their writings we are looking for eternal truths!
Lev Isaakovich Shestov
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A book is a teacher without pay or gratitude. Every moment she gives you revelations of wisdom. This is an interlocutor with a brain covered with skin, speaking silently about secret affairs. Navoi A.
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If you want an indestructible monument for yourself,
put your soul into a good book. Pierre Buast
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You'll never write a good book
without having written several bad ones first. George Bernard Shaw
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Solitude with books is better than company with fools. Pierre Buast
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Wherever there is arable land, wherever there is a human mind,
there must be a book. Hugo V.
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Love the book with all your heart! She's not only your best friend,
but also a faithful companion to the end. Ernest Miller Hemingway
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Books should be read as slowly and carefully as they were written. Henry David Thoreau
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A book in the times of Homer and Hesiod was as rare as a good book in our times.Voltaire
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A book is the same phenomenon of life as a person, it is also a living, speaking fact, and it is less a “thing” than all other things created and being created by man. Maksim Gorky
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Strictly speaking, the author of a good book should remain anonymous,
for we admire not him, but his art. Wysten Hugh Auden
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The newest and most original book is the one
which makes you love old truths. Luc de Clapier Vauvenargues
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A book should create a reader. Karel Capek
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It is not the beauty of books or their quantity that must be used,
but by their speech and everything that is written in them. Lucian
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The best book is the one that contains
the greatest number of truths. Pierre Buast
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A pocket-sized book could only appear in an era
when there are no more initiates. Roland Barthes
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When a book collides with your head and a dull, empty sound is heard, is it always the book's fault? Lichtenberg G.
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Laws die, books never die. Edward George Bulwer-Lytton
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Books serve to show us that our original thoughts are not new at all. Abraham Lincoln
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Some buy books, others steal, and others beg from authors at presentations. James Geoffrey Roche
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The book is a way for series to exist outside of television.
Leonard Louis Levinson
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No matter how many books you read, you will not become an emperor. Mao Zedong
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Truly it is a soul-saving penance to reflect on the huge number of books that have been published, on the sweet hopes that the authors place in them, and on the fate that awaits these books. How many chances does a single book have to make its way in this turmoil? And even if she is destined for success, it won’t be for long. Only God knows what kind of suffering the author endured, what bitter experience remained behind him, what heartaches tormented him, and all just so that his book would entertain the casual reader for an hour or two or help him to disperse the boredom of the road. But, judging by the reviews, many of these books are excellently written, the authors put a lot of thought into them, and some are the fruit of a lifetime of tireless work. From all this I conclude that a writer should seek satisfaction only in the work itself and in freeing himself from the burden of his thoughts, remaining indifferent to everything that comes with it - to blasphemy and praise, to success and failure. William Somerset Maugham
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While the author is alive, we judge his abilities by the worst books; and only when he died - according to the best.Samuel Johnson
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Someday everything will have its end - a distant day that I will no longer see - then my books will be opened and I will have readers. I have to write for them, for them I have to finish my main ideas. Now I can’t fight - I don’t even have an opponent. Friedrich Nietzsche
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A critic scolds a writer: this is called criticism. A writer scolds a critic: this is called scolding.
It is better to write for yourself and lose the reader than to write for the reader and lose yourself.
The trouble with those who write quickly is that they cannot write concisely.
The poet, surrounded by critics, feels like a wandering violinist playing before a pack of wolves in the winter cold.
By listening to the opinions of others, the writer loses himself.
It is stupid, even shameless, to criticize a writer for what he failed. The reader should be interested not in what the writer did not do, but in what he did.
Nothing powerful, nothing great can come from a corrupt pen.
Crossing out an indecent word from someone else's work is the same impudence as inserting an indecent word.
Prominent sayings about writers
Every writer has several topics that, due to his character and the peculiarities of his talent, he should not touch.
Just as a good person, having done a good deed, immediately forgets about it, a good writer forgets about the book he has just written.
Prominent fantasies and sayings about writers
Every writer, to a certain extent, portrays himself in his writings, often even against his will.
We write so much that we don't have time to think.
In many books the reader's mind rests, and the reason for this is very simple: in the same way the writer's mind rested.
Those who write darkly either unwittingly betray their ignorance or deliberately hide it poorly. They write vaguely about what they vaguely imagine.
Writers always hope that their next book will be the best, and never admit to themselves that they are not capable of creating anything new.
Those who write clearly have readers, and those who write darkly have commentators.
Every writer who joins the party banner sooner or later faces a choice - either submit or shut up. You can, however, obey and continue writing - but what?
To write beautifully means to simultaneously think beautifully, feel beautifully and express beautifully, that is, to have mind, soul and taste in equal measure.
A writer is talented if he knows how to present the new as familiar, and the familiar as new.
Writers have become accustomed to calling our century a turning point, and artists calling it a sinful one.
A famous writer is not only a poet or prose writer, but also a character in our biography.
Perhaps there was no writer in the world who was satisfied with the century in which he happened to live.
Prominent epigrams and sayings about writers
A writer becomes a good stylist when his tongue does everything that is required of it, without any shyness.
A famous writer is one from whom even weak things are taken; famous is the one who is praised for them.
A bad writer is one who is not taken at his word.
There should be measures of influence established by law that would curb mediocre and worthless scribblers, as is done in relation to loiterers and parasites.
And on the edge of the abyss he still clung to the pencil.
A writer's views on literature should be listened to with great caution.
The highest triumph for a writer is to make those who are able to think think.
The skill of a novelist—and a writer in general—consists not in the ability to describe everything, but in the ability to choose.
As soon as a writer touches his pen to paper, he begins to belong to his time... and, therefore, will be forgotten. Anyone who wants to write a book that will last forever must use invisible ink.
The imagination of a poet, dejected by grief, is like a foot enclosed in a new boot.
I have long believed that the yard is not the place for a poet who should study nature. But if pomp and etiquette turn men into machines, then it is the poet's duty to make men out of these machines again.
It's almost a classic now. They hardly read it anymore.
The greatest glory of a people lies in its writers.
Most writers are so busy writing that they simply have no time to think.
Clever, prominent sayings about writers
The main advantage of a writer is knowing what not to write.
We are not able to say anything that has not already been said... Our poets steal from Homer... The last is always better than the first.
It is absolutely impossible to write a work that would satisfy all readers.
No, honestly, there is no need to write dishonestly!
The creator in his works must express the state of his soul.
We call a classic a writer who can be praised without reading.
If a writer remembers his book, then its disadvantages come to mind rather than its advantages. Fame often makes a writer vain, but rarely proud.
A woman who writes sins doubly: she increases the number of books and decreases the number of women.
The worst tragedy for a poet is when people admire him because they do not understand him.
A writer who says everything, says, in my feeling, little.
The fall of overly exalted writers always occurs with extraordinary speed.
You should write as you speak, and not speak as you write.
To be original, it is enough to imitate writers who have gone out of fashion.
Some writers are afraid of platitudes. Me not. After all, platitudes are nothing more than old, time-tested wisdom.
Wise, prominent sayings about writers
We are surrounded by extraordinary, fantastic things, and writers persistently tell us about unimportant, everyday events.
Some writers confuse authenticity, which they should all strive for, with originality, which they should not care about at all.
Real writers meet their heroes only after they have already been created.
Only a minor writer can be an ideal gentleman: a major talent is always something of a boor... Thus, the ability to behave well is an irrefutable sign of mediocrity.
Each writer should be interpreted as he himself would wish. Such an attitude is required, on the one hand, by justice, and on the other, by the benefits of the study itself.
In the works of some fashionable writers we find detective signs of nature, but not its description.
The writer did not disappear because of television, but the reader did.
Writers who do not want to be identified with the historical process either ignore it or fight it. If they are able to ignore it, then they are most likely stupid. If they understand him enough to engage in battle with him, then they are smart enough to understand that there will be no victory.
Some writers only seem great if you stoop to their level.
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