Wer von der Zukunft nichts Gutes erwartet, der sollte lieber nicht warten.
If you don't expect anything good from the future, you'd better not wait.
Oskar Stock (*1946), German public administration specialist, writer, and aphorist
Der kreißende Berg gebiert eine Maus.
literally: The laboring mountain gives birth to a mouse.
Something that was previously announced with great fanfare turns out to be completely unspectacular.
Origin: Adapted from Horace, De arte poetica, verse 139: „Parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus“.
Schreibt gerne dazu, wo ihr her kommt.
Je mehr ein General von seinen Truppen zu fordern gewohnt ist, desto besser werden seine Forderungen erfüllt werden.
The more a general is accustomed to demanding from his troops, the better his demands will be met.
Carl Philipp Gottlieb von Clausewitz (1780 – 1831), Prussian general, army reformer, and military theorist
Ohne Mut und Entschlossenheit kann man in großen Dingen nie etwas tun, denn Gefahren gibt es überall.
Without courage and determination you can never do anything in great things, because dangers are everywhere.
Carl Philipp Gottlieb von Clausewitz (1780 – 1831), Prussian general, army reformer, and military theorist
das Bauernopfer
literally: pawn sacrifice, farmer sacrifice
fall guy, sacrificial lamb
Origin: In chess, pawns (in German: farmers) are the weakest figures, which are sacrificed to protect higher ranking figures or to open the opportunity for a positional advantage.
Vergnügungen
von Bertolt Brecht
Der erste Blick aus dem Fenster am Morgen Das wiedergefundene alte Buch Begeisterte Gesichter Schnee, der Wechsel der Jahreszeiten Die Zeitung Der Hund Die Dialektik Duschen, Schwimmen Alte Musik Bequeme Schuhe Begreifen Neue Musik Schreiben, Pflanzen Reisen Singen Freundlich sein.
Amusements
by Bertolt Brecht
The first look out of the window in the morning The rediscovered old book Enthusiastic faces Snow, the change of seasons The newspaper The dog Dialectics Showering, swimming Old music Comfortable shoes Understanding New music Writing, plants Traveling Singing Being friendly.
Selten ist in Europa überall Frieden, und nie geht der Krieg in den anderen Weltteilen aus.
There is rarely peace everywhere in Europe, and war never ends in other parts of the world.
Carl Philipp Gottlieb von Clausewitz (1780 – 1831), Prussian general, army reformer, and military theorist
Der Krieg hat die Tendenz zum Äußersten zu schreiten.
War has a tendency to escalate into extremes.
Carl Philipp Gottlieb von Clausewitz (1788 – 1831), Prussian general, army reformer, and military theorist
Es sind zwei Motive, die als Friedensgrund an die Stelle der Unfähigkeit zum weiteren Widerstand treten können: Das erste ist die Unwahrscheinlichkeit des Erfolges, das zweite ein zu hoher Preis.
There are two motives that can replace the inability to continue resisting as a reason for peace: the first is the improbability of success, the second is too high a price.
Carl Philipp Gottlieb von Clausewitz (1780 – 1831), Prussian general, army reformer, and military theorist
Es geht um des Kaisers Bart.
literally: It's about the emperor's beard.
The discussion is about something irrelevant.
Origin: Scholars were said to have had long arguments about whether Charlemagne wore a beard or not.
Worte können verletzen, aber auch liebevoll streicheln.
Words can hurt, but they can also caress lovingly.
Oskar Stock (*1946), German public administration specialist, writer, and aphorist
Lass Dir keinen (grauen) Bart wachsen!
literally: Don't grow a (grey) beard!
Don't be sad! Don't be upset! Forget it!
Origin: In the past, and in some cultures even today, shaving was stopped for a certain period of time as a sign of mourning.
Nichts ist heute so wichtig, dass es morgen nicht schon wieder unwichtig wäre.
Nothing is so important today that it will not be unimportant tomorrow.
Oskar Stock (*1946), German public administration specialist, writer, and aphorist
jemandem einen Bärendienst erweisen
literally: to do someone a bear service
to do someone a disservice; to be a bad help, often achieving the opposite of what is intended
Origin: Probably based on an animal fable by the French author Jean de La Fontaine, in which a tamed bear killed his master because he wanted to ward off annoying flies.
Ob eine schwarze Katze am Freitag, den dreizehnten Unglück bringt, hängt davon ab, ob man ein Mensch ist oder eine Maus.
Whether a black cat brings bad luck on Friday the 13th depends on whether you are a human or a mouse.
Oskar Stock (*1946), German public administration specialist, writer, and aphorist
jemandem einen Bären aufbinden
literally: to tie a bear to someone
to pull the wool over someone's eyes, to lie to someone, to deceive someone
Origin: The most likely derivation is from the Germanic root bar-, which meant to carry (still recognizable in the English word burden or the German Bürde). Later, people no longer knew that bar meant burden, and etymologically reinterpreted it as bear, which did not, however, provide a clear meaning. As a result, popular wisdom came up with a series of stories and anecdotes to explain the phrase. One of them is about hunters who stop at an inn but cannot pay for the food and drink they have consumed. They finally convince the innkeeper to accept a bear as collateral. Only after the hunters have already fled does the innkeeper realize he has made a bad trade and wonders what he is supposed to do with a live bear. Another source explains the phrase by saying that it is not possible to tie a bear to someone's back without them noticing, especially because the saying is often used for a big and quite obvious lie.