“In sometimes the life ultimately must have in the life does not have when not demands”
Or so claims this pendant. Anyone know what it really translates to? Or maybe it was made by Americans and really does say that!?
You get something when you dont ask for it.?
It better translates to,
“If it is destined to be yours, you will eventually have it.
If it is not destined for you, don’t forcefully chase it.”
Google Translate gives a translation similar to Velocity’s:
What is destined to be yours will be yours; what is not, you cannot force.
Sounds similar to the old adage “If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it is yours. If it does not, it never was.”
There was a version when I was a kid that said if it does not, hunt it down and kill it. Yes, we were a warped bunch.
My favorite proverb:
No matter how warm the smile on the face of the sun, the cat still has her kittens under the porch.
Honestly, I think the Chinese proverb is pretty crappy. It sounds like it’s basically saying “don’t strive to achieve anything, because it’s all predestined”. Thanks for the advice, but I think I’ll ignore it.
I see your point, but that’s an especially uncharitable interpretation. How about “strive for success, but accept you won’t always succeed”.
Both fit under the meta idea of “some stuff can be yours; some stuff will never be. So what’re you gonna do with that info?”
I was thinking it was more along the lines of “don’t throw good money after bad” in the sense of there are some things you can achieve, and some you can’t, and it’s not productive to stubbornly go after the ones that you can’t.
I do miss Banacek and his “ancient” Polish proverbs.
Thanks Velocity.
The proper translation of the proverb sounds like Taoism to me, which can also be misinterpreted.
Taoism has many sayings like “The wise man does nothing, and everything gets done”. It doesn’t mean to literally do nothing, it means don’t run around like a chicken with your head cut off trying to accomplish too much, in the end not succeeding, and getting stressed out in the process. Do only what needs to be done, in harmony with the natural processes of life.
Or from a camping trip my mom went on, with a bunch of other teachers: Some of them described her as having packed nothing, but having everything. She didn’t literally pack nothing; she just knew exactly what to pack, and left out all of the nonessentials (while still having all of the essentials).
Of course, while everyone can agree with “pack all of the essentials, but not the nonessentials”, the real wisdom lies not in knowing that, but in knowing just what the essentials are.
It happens I’m packing for a 2 week trip leaving on Sunday. GF is separately doing the same. I have no doubt by piece count she will carry 3x the items I will. And that’s even if I spot her all the bras and purses.
To look like a true packing genius, you need to a) bring very little “just in case” stuff, and b) have the unexpected circumstances match up perfectly with what little “just in case” you brought. It seems clairvoyant in the doing, but a bunch of that is just luck.
For sure better planning reduces useless overhead. Kind of like the adage about “the best model is as simple as possible but no simpler”. A worthwhile goal to recognize, but a difficult one to fully achieve in practice.
I re-watched Eastern Promises again recently. One of the tattoos that Viggo wore is:
“Let all I have lived be as if it were a dream”. (in Russian, of course)
I really like that.
Other silly ones are…
Not my circus, not my monkeys
And
Never fuck a monkey when the cat’s right there.