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Such wholesome words from a man that has everything. As a Serbian proverb says: “Be humble for you are made of earth. Be noble for you are made of stars.”... ap

Such wholesome words from a man that has everything. As a Serbian proverb says: “Be humble for you are made of earth. Be noble for you are made of stars.”... applies perfectly to Gates.

sedatk 6y ago
What's the Serbian version of the proverb if you don't mind sharing?
- cyphar 6y ago
  Based on some searches it appears to be "Budi skroman jer si stvoren od zemlje. Budi plemenit jer si stvoren od zvezda." / "Буди скроман јер си створен од земље. Буди племенит јер си створен од звезда." But note that "noble" isn't really the right translation for "plemenit" (despite what Google translate might tell you) -- it's closer in meaning to "selfless" or "generous" (which you could argue are noble attributes, but "noble" has certain connotations in English that "plemenit" doesn't). But to me it still doesn't sound right. I asked my mom (native Serbian speaker) and she said she's not heard of it as a proverb, and some Googling reveals that native Serbians are confused why foreigners seem to attribute it to us[1]. I also weirdly found a lot of questions on Quora and Yahoo answers asking for people to translate it to Serbian -- which explains why the proverb sounds slightly strange when read in Serbian. My guess is that this is actually some recent English proverb which someone decided to attribute to us (though it is neat that "zemlje" and "zvezda" do have a certain kind of rhyme). [1]: https://www.svetnauke.org/95-srpska-poslovica https://www.svetnauke.org/95-srpska-poslovica
  - afarrell 6y ago
    Perhaps its an English proverb which caught on amidst a community of Serbian expats/immigrants.
    - cyphar 6y ago
      Maybe, but it doesn't sound right when written in Serbian. For comparison, here is an actual Serbian proverb literally translated to English: "Bolje vrabac u ruci, nego golub na grani" means "better to have a sparrow in your hand than a pidgeon in a tree." Far less poetic than the native English bird-holding proverb "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" (which sounds strange when translated to Serbian as well -- "ptica u ruci vredi dve ptice u šumi", despite the fact it happens to rhyme). Proverbs and sayings have a specific kind of poetry in their native language which doesn't survive translation. It seems much more likely to me that it was simply misattributed.
    - oska 6y ago
      Based on what cyphar is saying in this thread, my (somewhat cynical) take is that someone made it up recently and tried to give it an air of 'old wisdom' by falsely attributing it as a Serbian proverb. (I also think this supposed saying is quite hokey and dumb. The earth is as much 'made of stars' as we are.)
      - EL_Loco 6y ago
        Every now and then somebody I know will post a photo with a proverb mistakenly attributed to some historical figure. It's not uncommon for the proverb to be very simple, not very deep, such that I immediately discard it as made-up and not really written by the famous figure. There's actually quite a lot of this. Many bad lines attributed to great poets float around the net.
RickJWagner 6y ago
Love that proverb. Thanks for sharing.
raz32dust 6y ago
Is it an old proverb? Never heard of any culture that considered human beings to be made of stars. It is fascinating because now we know that we literally are made of stars.
- cyphar 6y ago
  I asked my mom (native Serbian speaker) and she said she's not heard of it as a proverb, and some Googling reveals that native Serbians are confused why foreigners seem to attribute it to us[1]. I also weirdly found a lot of questions on Quora and Yahoo answers asking for people to translate it to Serbian -- which explains why the proverb sounds slightly strange when read in Serbian. My guess is that this is actually some recent English proverb which someone decided to attribute to us (though it is neat that "zemlje" and "zvezda" do have a certain kind of rhyme). [1]: https://www.svetnauke.org/95-srpska-poslovica https://www.svetnauke.org/95-srpska-poslovica
- salex89 6y ago
  Serbian here... Also never heard of it. But I suspect that it has something to do with another, similar one: U dobru se ne ponesi, u zlu ne ponizi/У добру се не понеси, у злу не понизи. Which roughly (because it is archaic) translates to: Be humble when all is good (in good fortune), do not submit to evil (bad, unfortunate, hard) times.
goatherders 6y ago
I have never read/heard that saying but reading it this evening made me smile. Thank you for sharing. Reminds me of my own favorite: "you are a ghost driving a meat covered skeleton made of stardust travelling on a rock through outer space. Fear nothing."

Such wholesome words from a man that has everything. As a Serbian proverb says: “Be humble for you are made of earth. Be noble for you are made of stars.”... applies perfectly to Gates.

sedatk 6y ago

What's the Serbian version of the proverb if you don't mind sharing?

cyphar 6y ago
Based on some searches it appears to be "Budi skroman jer si stvoren od zemlje. Budi plemenit jer si stvoren od zvezda." / "Буди скроман јер си створен од земље. Буди племенит јер си створен од звезда." But note that "noble" isn't really the right translation for "plemenit" (despite what Google translate might tell you) -- it's closer in meaning to "selfless" or "generous" (which you could argue are noble attributes, but "noble" has certain connotations in English that "plemenit" doesn't). But to me it still doesn't sound right. I asked my mom (native Serbian speaker) and she said she's not heard of it as a proverb, and some Googling reveals that native Serbians are confused why foreigners seem to attribute it to us[1]. I also weirdly found a lot of questions on Quora and Yahoo answers asking for people to translate it to Serbian -- which explains why the proverb sounds slightly strange when read in Serbian. My guess is that this is actually some recent English proverb which someone decided to attribute to us (though it is neat that "zemlje" and "zvezda" do have a certain kind of rhyme). [1]: https://www.svetnauke.org/95-srpska-poslovica https://www.svetnauke.org/95-srpska-poslovica
- afarrell 6y ago
  Perhaps its an English proverb which caught on amidst a community of Serbian expats/immigrants.
  - cyphar 6y ago
    Maybe, but it doesn't sound right when written in Serbian. For comparison, here is an actual Serbian proverb literally translated to English: "Bolje vrabac u ruci, nego golub na grani" means "better to have a sparrow in your hand than a pidgeon in a tree." Far less poetic than the native English bird-holding proverb "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" (which sounds strange when translated to Serbian as well -- "ptica u ruci vredi dve ptice u šumi", despite the fact it happens to rhyme). Proverbs and sayings have a specific kind of poetry in their native language which doesn't survive translation. It seems much more likely to me that it was simply misattributed.
  - oska 6y ago
    Based on what cyphar is saying in this thread, my (somewhat cynical) take is that someone made it up recently and tried to give it an air of 'old wisdom' by falsely attributing it as a Serbian proverb. (I also think this supposed saying is quite hokey and dumb. The earth is as much 'made of stars' as we are.)
    - EL_Loco 6y ago
      Every now and then somebody I know will post a photo with a proverb mistakenly attributed to some historical figure. It's not uncommon for the proverb to be very simple, not very deep, such that I immediately discard it as made-up and not really written by the famous figure. There's actually quite a lot of this. Many bad lines attributed to great poets float around the net.

RickJWagner 6y ago

Love that proverb. Thanks for sharing.

raz32dust 6y ago

Is it an old proverb? Never heard of any culture that considered human beings to be made of stars. It is fascinating because now we know that we literally are made of stars.

cyphar 6y ago
I asked my mom (native Serbian speaker) and she said she's not heard of it as a proverb, and some Googling reveals that native Serbians are confused why foreigners seem to attribute it to us[1]. I also weirdly found a lot of questions on Quora and Yahoo answers asking for people to translate it to Serbian -- which explains why the proverb sounds slightly strange when read in Serbian. My guess is that this is actually some recent English proverb which someone decided to attribute to us (though it is neat that "zemlje" and "zvezda" do have a certain kind of rhyme). [1]: https://www.svetnauke.org/95-srpska-poslovica https://www.svetnauke.org/95-srpska-poslovica
salex89 6y ago
Serbian here... Also never heard of it. But I suspect that it has something to do with another, similar one: U dobru se ne ponesi, u zlu ne ponizi/У добру се не понеси, у злу не понизи. Which roughly (because it is archaic) translates to: Be humble when all is good (in good fortune), do not submit to evil (bad, unfortunate, hard) times.

goatherders 6y ago

I have never read/heard that saying but reading it this evening made me smile. Thank you for sharing. Reminds me of my own favorite: "you are a ghost driving a meat covered skeleton made of stardust travelling on a rock through outer space. Fear nothing."