How often does a person say something truly smart and valuable? Surely much less than any stupid phrases. But, as the Bible tells us, in the beginning was the Word. It is it that allows us to maximize our thoughts and bring them to others.
Beautiful phrases that carry a deep meaning, as a rule, appear in the head of smart and great people. They are usually quoted and called aphorisms. Check out a selection of the best quotes on a wide variety of topics.
European wisdom
Not always do we know the author of any aphorism for sure. They can be "people of the people." So, a simple man somehow expressed a thought in a conversation - and here is a finished quote, already going to the people. Ingenious phrases were not included in such a set of words. People preferred something simple and concise, which could be quickly picked up as a compelling argument or to reinforce their opinions.
So in the world there were proverbs and sayings. They are an important part of folklore. In them, in fact, the whole mentality of the author’s people is visible. There are Russian phrases that have sunk into the soul and are very often repeated in the daily vocabulary.
The European tradition of proverbs and sayings is very similar to ours in meaning and content. How can this be explained? Of course, our highly connected historical past and common monotheistic religion. If you wish, you can easily find analogues of Russian morality within the folklore of other European peoples.
| Russian variant | European equivalent |
| You can’t catch fish from a pond without labor. | Patience brings roses (German proverb). |
| Hunger is not an aunt. | Need law writes (French proverb). |
| A friend in need is a friend indeed. | Find a friend - how to find a treasure (Italian proverb). |
| Whoever hurts - that’s what he says. | Whoever has a sin in his soul - he screams more about him (Spanish proverb). |
| The truth is not seeking mercy. | A clean hand does not need to be washed (English proverb). |
As can be seen from the comparison table, the meaning of these clever phrases is the same, despite the fact that they are present in the lexical usage of peoples of different countries.
Folk wisdom of other countries
When faced with the cultural heritage of immigrants from other continents, an equally huge source of wisdom is discovered. These abstruse phrases carry a lot of information, convey the meaning of life of these people, their history and allow us to better understand their mentality.
For example, residents of Europe and Russia are well aware that a real man does not cry. A true husband cannot express his emotions in public, especially such as grief and disappointment. Yes, and in itself it is not necessary to "dissolve nurses", you just need to take and do business. However, the Indians from North America because of this look at us with a grin:
- “A strong man is crying, a weak man is not.”
- "The weak is afraid of his feelings."
- "The soul does not have a rainbow if there are no tears in the eyes."
So this people, who always lived in the wild and did not know enlightenment, treated the manifestations of emotions - as a natural need of any creature. Maybe you should listen to these wise phrases made by representatives of the indigenous population of America?
Using the example of deep Chinese thought, one can understand how differently we see, know and feel the world. Often philosophical phrases the people of the Celestial Empire are so much different from what we are used to believing in wisdom, that we marvel - how can you feel the same land in different ways?
This is how the Chinese respond to the significance of man, his "I", which, according to the philosophy of Tao, does not exist at all:
- "There is you - nothing has increased, there is no you - nothing has disappeared."
For Europeans and Russians, this sounds not just incomprehensible, but sad and depressing.
In addition, the search for peace is of great importance for the inhabitants of the Middle Kingdom. For them, he is the innermost goal that man must strive to become one with nature. That is why interesting phrases of this country are closely related to the description of trees and flowers. They often use the mention of spring.
The Chinese attach great importance to harmony and unity. The whole world in their view is just an echo of the Tao River, which flows in some other dimension.
They are sure that at the end of the journey everyone is the same, regardless of who they were in this life. This is evidenced by many of their sayings.
Quotes about power
Since the time of primitive existence, man wants to be above the rest, longs to stand at the head of the tribe. He dreams of commanding, managing, because he is confident that he knows everything better than anyone. Power is a terrible power, and not everyone deserves it. However, the desire to achieve a high status is one of those qualities thanks to which people have changed our whole world.
Power was especially revered in Antiquity, mainly in Ancient Rome, where civic activity was placed above all else. We could hear interesting phrases from the lips of people of that time:
- “I'd rather be the first in this village than the second in Rome” (Gaius Julius Caesar, while stopping for the night in a small village).
- “To rule means to fulfill duties” (Seneca).
- “Before you begin to command, learn to obey” (Solon of Athens).
In the future, the thirst for power never let mankind out of its tenacious embrace. It becomes the object of expression of many famous philosophers, politicians, writers and public figures. Each of them (like any other person, isn’t that so?) Was concerned about the issues of power. Perhaps, due to their wisdom, they found answers to some of them, from which we can learn by looking at their clever phrases:
- “Violence, if it allows itself to slow down, becomes power” (Elias Canetti).
- “The minister should not complain about newspapers and even read them - he should write them” (Charles de Gaulle).
- “Power is given only to those who dare to bend down and take it” (Fedor Dostoevsky).
Many later, after the Middle Ages, saw in the power the root of all troubles - both in the need to obey and in the desire to command. Philosophers and writers agreed that all people are equal, and the very concept of world order, where one person can order another, contradicts our high nature.
Alas! Humanity is still stuck at the level at which power is the most important engine of human emotion. People can’t imagine how to disobey.
Quotes about the war
However, power must also be fought. After all, other people really, really want to take her away. When two endless desires of power collide, war begins.
Mankind has succeeded in waging wars, and abstruse phrases about them are pouring in. That is what people do most often. They learn to fight from an early age, and therefore the war takes up a lot of space in their minds. Some praise her, others give advice on how to avoid military conflicts, and others are ironic.
Despite the fact that the war cripples billions of lives, destroys thousands of countries, wipes millions of cities and cultures off the face of the earth, it will always find a place in someone’s head. And the longer humanity exists, the more it realizes how much destructive energy war generates. More and more we are trying to get rid of her. Declare war war.
People used to talk about how great it is to fight. How much true courage, valor, courage and patriotism is manifested in this. Now we are approaching what people realize that killing another person will never bring anything good.
- “War ... War never changes” (Fallout, video game).
- “Generals are a striking case of developmental delay. Which of us at the age of five did not dream of being a general? ” (Peter Ustinov).
- “I do not know a single nation that would be enriched as a result of victory in the war” (Voltaire).
- “If we want to use the world, we have to fight” (Cicero).
Friendship quotes
Since ancient times, friendship is a deliverance from loneliness, salvation and support. And betrayal is the worst sin, according to most peoples of the world. Take at least Dante - weren't the traitors tormented in his worst, ninth circle of Hell?
The veneration of friendship is reflected in every culture of the world. Many felt it necessary to note its importance. Phrases with meaning, telling about the power of friendships, are very often found in the sayings of great philosophers and writers of different times. Among them are such great names as Socrates, Aristotle, Johann Schiller, Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain. All of them skillfully focus on the quality of friendships.
- “Friendship is not such a miserable light to die out in separation” (Johann Schiller).
The authors skillfully in a few words convey the power of friendship, which can not be broken. They speak the truth, surprisingly conveying in a few words the importance of true companionship.
Quotes about love
Love has always had power over people. And sometimes it captured more than friendship, forcing to step over the principles. A man is tight without her. This feeling has been visited by millions of people. The wiser they were, the more it consumed them. Poets and musicians, writers and playwrights - many wrote only about her, about love. The abstruse phrases do not suit her, she only needs sincerity and honesty.
At the same time, it became a topic for speculation, material for excellent manipulation. Thousands of monotonous works impose the image of false, non-sensual, “binding” love in everyone’s life. But what does the real look like? Clever phrases about this were left to us by great people:
- “To resist love is to supply it with new weapons” (George Sand).
Quotes about freedom
The desire of man to be free is manifested with different strength in different eras. No matter how often people now forget about it, the desire to break out of someone’s control and power lives in every person. And this in spite of so many prevailing factors: war makes him a slave, friendship with someone bad takes away all his strength, and false love forever deprives sleep and requires submission.
And only getting rid of all these misfortunes, you can become free. And it is precisely such freedom that people always strive for, it is for it that they are ready to die. The philosophical phrases of great people make us wonder: how free are we?
This supreme struggle - for one's will - is directed precisely at the first, bestial and herd trait - the desire for power. And when every person, even the smallest one, kills the king inside himself, and when everyone starts to "squeeze the slave drop by drop," then we can talk about the free world. A world where everyone has the right to make a mistake. Where one person cannot kill another, not because he will be punished for it, but because he does not give himself the internal right to do so.
- “A people who are accustomed to living under the rule of the sovereign and who, thanks to chance, has become free, hardly retains freedom” (Nicolo Machiavelli).
- “Who sacrificed freedom for security does not deserve freedom or security” (Benjamin Franklin).
- “Only having lost everything to the end, we gain freedom” (Chuck Palahniuk).
Quotes about the meaning of life
Every person from time to time is interested in: “In the name of what do we exist and have come to this world?” Phrases about the meaning of life probably have more mysteries than answers. You can argue with them and not share the opinions of their authors. And this is correct, since for each person the answer to this question is individual. And his future, goals and desires depend on what he will be.
However, this does not hinder listening to more intelligent people. The expressions and phrases of those who were looking for the meaning of being can help us and direct us in the right direction.
- “The meaning of life is to achieve perfection and tell others about it” (Richard Bach).
Funny quotes
But what remains for a man to do when he has renounced the thirst for power and war, made true friends, made true love, gained freedom and found the meaning of life? Of course, one thing is to laugh with happiness.
Despite all sorts of smart phrases, human life is, above all, incredibly ridiculous. In all her tragedy, sorrow, need, she continues to remain ridiculous. And only the wisest, most subtle people understood this with all their heart. For example, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was able to laugh at his own grief: “How so! So much is terrible and bad in our life, but it is claimed that it is ridiculous! ” It’s like he, feeding the whole family of the writer’s everyday work in his youth, dying of consumption, burying his brothers, never tasted grief for taste ... But the fact of the matter is that the stronger a person is, the more he is ironic about their troubles.
And the great and wise people understood this. None of those whose beautiful phrases are presented above, never missed the opportunity to joke. Laughter is the main evidence of the living soul of a person. Here are some of their famous ironic sayings:
- “I did not fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong” (Benjamin Franklin).
- “Murderers and architects always return to the crime scene” (Peter Ustinov).
Conclusion
Phrases with a meaning that is deeply hidden in them will never lose their relevance. Such here they are in themselves - aphorisms, an important part of human culture. After all, how much mind is needed to contain your strong message in one or two sentences! Already only for this possession of the rhetoric and eloquence of a person can be called wise.
After all, this is such a big job - a well-tailored phrase. The examples clearly show that people always, at all times, were worried about the same thing. The nature of man is unchanged and, apparently, will be such for a long time to come. Therefore, quotes, aphorisms and proverbs will remain an inexhaustible source of the main treasure - mind and wisdom.