In this translation exercise I am trying my hand at the different (and challenging, I find!) task of translating succinct maxims by Nietzsche. I check and compare my translations against the standard, Walter Kaufmann's The Portable Nietzsche. The texts below are color coded as follows:
Original Bold Black
Mine Blue
Kaufmann Green
My notes Italicized Red
Sprüche und Pfeile.
Maxims and Arrows.
(Approximately 1,000 words)
1.
Müssiggang ist aller Psychologie Anfang. Wie? wäre Psychologie ein - Laster?
Idleness is the beginning of all psychology. How can this be? Could psychology be a - vice?
Idleness is the beginning of all psychology. What? Should psychology be a vice?
(Kaufmann notes that there is a German proverb that "Idleness is the beginning of all vices." This sounds very similar to an English proverb "Idle hands do the work of the Devil.")
2.
Auch der Muthigste von uns hat nur selten den Muth zu dem, was er eigentlich weiss ...
Also, the gutsiest of us seldom has the guts for what he actually knows…
Even the most courageous among us only rarely has the courage for that which he really knows.
(Here I like my translation best. "Guts" has a, well, visceral connotation in English, that courage lacks as a translation of Muth. I think this captures more of the sense of Nietzsche here.)
3.
Um allein zu leben, muss man ein Thier oder ein Gott sein - sagt Aristoteles. Fehlt der dritte Fall: man muss Beides sein - Philosoph ...
In order to live alone, one must be an animal or a God - says Aristotle. The third case is missing: one must be both - a philosopher...
To live alone one must be a beast or a god, says Aristotle. Leaving out the third case: one must be both - a philosopher.
(Very similar here.)
4.
"Alle Wahrheit ist einfach." - Ist das nicht zwiefach eine Lüge? -
" All truth is simple. " - Is that not twice a lie?
" All truth is simple. " - Is that not doubly a lie?
(Very similar here, but I like "twice" more than "doubly", because it sounds harsher, and more medieval.)
5.
Ich will, ein für alle Mal, Vieles nicht wissen. - Die Weisheit zieht auch der Erkenntniss Grenzen.
I wish, once and for all, not to know so much. - Wisdom also draws the limits of perception.
I want, once and for all, not to know many things. - Wisdom sets limits to knowledge too.
(Bah, mine is more poetic! It also captures a double meaning of "draw" in English, which perhaps isn't exactly what ziehen means here… but Nietzsche would have liked it! And ziehen seems to have this same double meaning in German as well….)
6.
Man erholt sich in seiner wilden Natur am besten von seiner Unnatur, von seiner Geistigkeit ...
It is in his own wild nature that a man recuperates best from his un-nature, that is, from his mental life...
In our own wild nature we find the best recreation from our un-nature, from our spirituality.
(I see that Kaufmann and I both resorted to inventing the same sniglet "un-nature" to translate Nietzsche's Unnatur. But surely erholt sich refers to recuperation and not recreation?)
7.
Wie? ist der Mensch nur ein Fehlgriff Gottes? Oder Gott nur ein Fehlgriff des Menschen? -
What then? Are humans only a mistake of God? Or God only a mistake of humans?
What? Is man merely a mistake of God's? Or God merely a mistake of man's?
8.
Aus der Kriegsschule des Lebens. - Was mich nicht umbringt, macht mich stärker.
From the military school of life - What does not kill me, makes me stronger.
Out of life's school of war: What does not destroy me, makes me stronger.
9.
Hilf dir selber: dann hilft dir noch Jedermann. Princip der Nächstenliebe.
Help yourself: then everyone helps you. Principle of the next stage of love.
Help yourself, then everyone will help you. Principle of neighbor-love.
(Whoops. Nächsten = neighbor, not next.)
10.
Dass man gegen seine Handlungen keine Feigheit begeht! dass man sie nicht hinterdrein im Stiche lässt! - Der Gewissensbiss ist unanständig.
That one does not commit cowardice against one's own actions! That one does not leave it [behind?] in stitches! - The bite of conscience is indecent.
Not to perpetrate cowardice against one's own acts! Not to leave them in the lurch afterward! The bite of conscience is indecent.
(Close enough….)
11.
Kann ein Esel tragisch sein? - Dass man unter einer Last zu Grunde geht, die man weder tragen, noch abwerfen kann? ... Der Fall des Philosophen.
Can a donkey be tragic? - That one is crushed under a burden to the ground, a burden which one can neither carry nor throw off? The case of the philosopher.
Can an ass be tragic? To perish under a burden one can neither bear nor throw off? The case of the philosopher.
12.
Hat man sein warum? des Lebens, so verträgt man sich fast mit jedem wie? - Der Mensch strebt nicht nach Glück; nur der Engländer thut das.
Does man have a reason for being? How does everyone tolerate their life? - Humans do not strive for happiness; only the Englishman does that.
If we have our own why of life, we shall get along with almost any how. Man does not strive for pleasure; only the Englishman does.
(Hmm, misread this. But Kaufmann's doesn't seem quite accurate either, somehow….)
13.
Der Mann hat das Weib geschaffen - woraus doch? Aus einer Rippe seines Gottes, - seines "Ideals"...
Man created Woman - but from what? From a rib of his God, - his "ideal"...
Man has created woman - out of what? Out of a rib of his god - of his "ideal."
14.
Was? du suchst? du möchtest dich verzehnfachen, verhundertfachen? du suchst Anhänger? - Suche Nullen
What? You search? You would like to increase tenfold, increase a hundredfold? You seek followers? - Search for zeros.
What? You search? You would multiply yourself by ten, by a hundred? You seek followers? Seek zeros!
(Wow! I actually got this right. Thought I misread it….)
15.
Posthume Menschen - ich zum Beispiel - werden schlechter verstanden als zeitgemässe, aber besser gehört. Strenger: wir werden nie verstanden - und daher unsre Autorität ...
Posthumous persons - myself for example - will be more poorly understood over time, but better heard. Worse: we will never be understood - and thus our authority...
Posthumous men - I, for example - are understood worse than timely ones, but heard better. More precisely: we are never understood - hence our authority.
(Messed up a bit. Couldn't understand what zeitgemässe meant.)
16.
Unter Frauen. - "Die Wahrheit? Oh Sie kennen die Wahrheit nicht! Ist sie nicht ein Attentat auf alle unsre pudeurs?" -
Under women - " The truth? Oh, you do not know the truth! Isn't it an assassination of all our decency? " -
Among women: "Truth? Oh, you don’t know truth! Is it not an attempt to assasinate all our pudeurs?"
(Interesting. Unter can mean among? And at least I had the "decency" to try to translate the French.)
17.
Das ist ein Künstler, wie ich Künstler liebe, bescheiden in seinen Bedürfnissen: er will eigentlich nur Zweierlei, sein Brod und seine Kunst, - panem et Circen ...
That is an artist, how I love an artist, humble in their needs: he wishes only two things, his bread and his art, -[Latin: bread and circuses?]
That is an artist as I love artists, modest in his needs: he really wants only two things, his bread and his art - panem et Circen.
(Kaufmann clarifies the Latin bit: it is actually not "bread and circuses," but rather a play on this phrase, and actually meaning "bread and Circe" meaning Circe the Homeric sorceress. How droll of Nietzsche.)
18.
Wer seinen Willen nicht in die Dinge zu legen weiss, der legt wenigstens einen Sinn noch hinein: das heisst, er glaubt, dass ein Wille bereits darin sei (Princip des "Glaubens").
Whoever knows not to place his desires in things, still places in them at least one meaning: that being his belief that a desire already exists (principle of "belief").
Whoever does not know how to lay his will into things, at least lays some meaning into them: that means, he has the faith that they alreay obey a will. (Principle of "faith.")
(Hmm. Well I think Kauffmann is more accurate, but I like mine better, even if Nietzsche never said it. Oh well...)
19.
Wie? ihr wähltet die Tugend und den gehobenen Busen und seht zugleich scheel nach den Vortheilen der Unbedenklichen? - Aber mit der Tugend verzichtet man auf "Vortheile" ... (einem Antisemiten an die Hausthür.)
How? You chose virtue and the noblest heart while at the same time gazing enviously at the advantage of the unscrupulous? But with virtue one renounces "advantage" … (an antiSemite to the ????)
What? Your elected virtue and the swelled bosom and yet you leer enviously at the advantage of those without qualms? But virtue involves renouncing "advantages." (Inscription for an anti-Semite's door.)
(Okay, that clears things up…)
20.
Das vollkommene Weib begeht Litteratur, wie es eine kleine Sünde begeht: zum Versuch, im Vorübergehn, sich umblickend, ob es Jemand bemerkt und dass es Jemand bemerkt ...
The perfect woman commits the crime of Literature, as it commits a small sin: in the attempt, passing by, glancing at itself, as if it noticed someone and that it noticed someone…
The perfect woman perpetrates literature as she perpetrates a small sin: as an experiment, in passing, looking around to see if anybody notices it - and to make sure that somebody does.
(Ooh, ooh! I like that one, Walter! "Perpetrates" was the word I was looking for….)
21.
Sich in lauter Lagen begeben, wo man keine Scheintugenden haben darf, wo man vielmehr, wie der Seiltänzer auf seinem Seile, entweder stürzt oder steht - oder davon kommt ...
One adjourns in noisy situations, where one may not have apparent virtues, where one rather, like the tightrope walker on his line, either topples or stands, or thereof comes….
To venture into all sorts of situations in which one may not have any sham virtues, where, like the tightrope walkeron his rope, one either stands or falls - or gets away.
(Okay, I got stuck on the last part….)
22.
"Böse Menschen haben keine Lieder." - Wie kommt es, dass die Russen Lieder haben?
"Evil people have no songs. " - How comes it that the Russians have songs?
"Evil men have no songs." How is it, then, that the Russians have songs?
(Nietzsche, you, you…. Russophobe!)