Man and Universe

Begin and end of the world

• Found in DIKOBRAZ before our era. The captions are understood without translation... And you learn three words of the language of Karel Capek.

The Cosmological Principle

• Andromaque a le même battement de cils que Pénélope
  says Odysseus to Hector in the peace talks before the war of Troy in the interpretation of Jean Giraudoux.
• Tuttu lu munnu è comu casa nostra (sicilian).
  All the world is like our home.
• Woanders ist es vielleicht anders, aber anders ist es anderswo auch nicht.
• Überall wird mit demselben Wasser gekocht (german).
  The same water is used for cooking everywhere.
• Ad ogni santu veni la so festa (sicilian).
  Each Saint has its celebration day at last.
• Tutto il mondo è paese (italian).
• Somos, como siempre, al fin de los tiempos (Borges: La escritura del Dios).
  As always, we experience the end of times.
• En todas partes cuecen habas (spanish)
  Everywhere beans are in the pots.

The Anticosmological Principle

• Beyond the mountains the grass is more green (english).
• Zhè shan wàng zháo nà shan gao (chinese).
  Behind the hill are always higher hills.

Brothers

• Si hai e nai jie jiong di (chinese).
  All four seas are in their hearts like elder and younger brother (see right-hand column).
• Amor di fratello, amor di coltello (italian).
  Brother's love, knife's love.

Patience Inna'l-Insaana la fi Khusr. Illa'l-ladhina amanu wa amilu's-Salihati wa tawaasau bi'l-Haqqi wa tawaasau bi's-Sabr. Siehe, die Menschen sind wahrlich verloren außer denen, die da glauben und das Rechte tun und einander zur Wahrheit mahnen und Geduld (Muh.103,2-3.). Mankind is lost save these who believe and act right and urge truth and patience (see right-hand column). Khuliq al insan min 'adzhil sa warikum 'a yati fala tasutahadzhilun. Erschaffen ist der Mensch aus Ungeduld (Muh.21,38.). Man is composed of impatience. Si ad ogni cani c'abbaja ci jittamu na petra, petri non ni restanu cchiu' 'n menzu la strata (sicilian). Throw a stone at every yarking dog: no stone will be left for the street. A pagare e a morire si è sempre a tempo (italian). For paying and dying one is always in time. As-sabr muftah al faradzh (arabic). Patience is the key to the good (see right-hand column). Xiâo bù rên ze luàn dà mó (chinese). Big enterprises need a little patience. Yù sù zé bù dá (chinese). More haste, less speed. La gata fretolosa la fa i gatei orbi (italian). The cat in hurry has blind kittens.

General

• Sed non vetat lex, vetat fieri pudor (Seneca).
  Even not prohibited by law, it is forbidden by shame.
• Nihil sapientiae odiosius est acumine nimio (attributed to Seneca by E.A.Poe).
  Nothing more annoying for wisdom than too much sharpness.
• Scire volunt omnes, mercedes solvere nemo (Levoca town hall).
  Everybody wants to take part in deciding, nobody in paying for.
• Senatores boni viri, senatus autem bestia.
  Senators are all benevolent men, nevertheless, the senate is a brute.
• Ogni promessa è debito (italian).
  Each promise is a debt.
• Qí hû nán xià (chinese).
  Riding on the tiger, it is difficult to dismount.
• Shuo Cao-cáo, Cao-cáo jìn dào (chinese).
  When you remind Cao-cao, his army is already at the gate of the town.
• Chi semina vento raccoglie tempesta (italian).
  Who sows wind reaps storm.
• Excusatio non petita est accusa manifesta (latin).
  An excuse not asked is a manifest accuse.
• Lu fattu è nimicu di lu perfettu (sicilian).
  The things done are ennemies of the perfect.
• Petra tirata e palora ditta non ponnu turnari arreri (sicilian).
  The stone thrown and the word outspoken cannot be taken back.
• Cu' nasci pi furca non mori pi mari (sicilian).
  Who is born for the gibbet will not die in the sea.
• Ez emberiségnek könnyei, lemoshatnák az emberiségnek szennyét? (S.Petöfi).
  The tears of mankind, will they suffice to wash off its shame and infamy?