4 ms·

The Holy Bible. It taught me that vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas.

rodenmonte 5y ago
"vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas" translates to "vanity of vanities, all (is) vanity" - just in case I'm not the only one who didn't know.
- muzani 5y ago
  It makes more sense in full context: http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Ecclesiastes+1:1-11 http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Ecclesiastes+1:1-11
ampdepolymerase 5y ago
All the nihilistic HN are people downvoting because they are envious of having a faith.
- mkl 5y ago
  I think providing advice in Latin, a language almost no one on HN speaks, is a more likely reason. It started getting upvoted again after someone else provided a translation.
  - leephillips 5y ago
    “I often feel that the American programmer would profit more from learning, say, Latin than from learning yet another programming language.” -- Edsger Dijkstra https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/transcriptions/EWD06xx/EWD611.html https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/transcriptions/EWD06xx/E... I don’t know Latin, but the meaning of the quoted phrase was pretty obvious.
    - uchiga 5y ago
      still dont know what it means in english
      - DoreenMichele 5y ago
        Having read the linked Bible passage, I think it probably means "A wise man is humble. We are all dust in the wind. Nothing you do matters anywhere near as much as most people like to imagine." In a thousand years, the sun will still rise. The wind will still blow. Your name will probably not be remembered. We have trouble coming up with solid info on historic kings. We know vastly less about historic commoners. Even if you are relatively well off and important in the world today, in the grand scheme of things, you still don't really matter all that much. So check your ego at the door.
- dang 5y ago
  "Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community." "Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading." - note also https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=corrective%20upvote https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor... https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Please especially don't start religious flamewars. We can, and prefer to, avoid that hell here.
hellbannedguy 5y ago
I know why this crowd downvoted you, but "Try to find a Christian Mechanic, open on Sunday? No David you are bunking with us." Line out of a movie. If I know a person lies some of the stuff in a book that teaches honestly, and kindness; they are my first choice for anything. Are they more talented than let's say a Zuck? No. Would I trust them with my money, or the keys to my house? Yes. (I don't need a debate. I'm not a bible thumper. I know the bible has some crazy ideas. I do think some people need a reminder that ethics are important, or at least appreciated in some crowds. Do you need a book in order to be a respectable person-- no.)
- leephillips 5y ago
  I have no interest in the “god” concept and I think the Bible is the most overrated book around. Also, I know it’s bad form to talk about comment voting, and I’ve never done it before. But I saw the greyed-out vanitas comment and gave it my upvote to undo a bit of the damage. I mean, come on.
muzani 5y ago
Once you can let go of the world and everything in it, you have an amazing amount of freedom. It makes you invincible, you no longer feel like you have to grip on to wealth for your safety or your family's. You don't feel like you have to prove yourself to anyone. You focus on the things that matter, the things that do good.
aerovistae 5y ago
Okay, Ecclesiastes is one of my favorite books ever, but referring to its message as if it were the message of the whole Bible is incredibly disingenuous, misleading, and unlikely to get anyone to actually read what you're talking about -- how would they know it was that _one_ section? And quoting it in Latin with no translation is incredibly pompous.

"vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas" translates to "vanity of vanities, all (is) vanity" - just in case I'm not the only one who didn't know.

muzani 5y ago
It makes more sense in full context: http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Ecclesiastes+1:1-11 http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Ecclesiastes+1:1-11

ampdepolymerase 5y ago

All the nihilistic HN are people downvoting because they are envious of having a faith.

mkl 5y ago
I think providing advice in Latin, a language almost no one on HN speaks, is a more likely reason. It started getting upvoted again after someone else provided a translation.
- leephillips 5y ago
  “I often feel that the American programmer would profit more from learning, say, Latin than from learning yet another programming language.” -- Edsger Dijkstra https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/transcriptions/EWD06xx/EWD611.html https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/transcriptions/EWD06xx/E... I don’t know Latin, but the meaning of the quoted phrase was pretty obvious.
  - uchiga 5y ago
    still dont know what it means in english
    - DoreenMichele 5y ago
      Having read the linked Bible passage, I think it probably means "A wise man is humble. We are all dust in the wind. Nothing you do matters anywhere near as much as most people like to imagine." In a thousand years, the sun will still rise. The wind will still blow. Your name will probably not be remembered. We have trouble coming up with solid info on historic kings. We know vastly less about historic commoners. Even if you are relatively well off and important in the world today, in the grand scheme of things, you still don't really matter all that much. So check your ego at the door.
dang 5y ago
"Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community." "Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading." - note also https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=corrective%20upvote https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor... https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Please especially don't start religious flamewars. We can, and prefer to, avoid that hell here.

hellbannedguy 5y ago

I know why this crowd downvoted you, but "Try to find a Christian Mechanic, open on Sunday? No David you are bunking with us." Line out of a movie. If I know a person lies some of the stuff in a book that teaches honestly, and kindness; they are my first choice for anything. Are they more talented than let's say a Zuck? No. Would I trust them with my money, or the keys to my house? Yes. (I don't need a debate. I'm not a bible thumper. I know the bible has some crazy ideas. I do think some people need a reminder that ethics are important, or at least appreciated in some crowds. Do you need a book in order to be a respectable person-- no.)

leephillips 5y ago
I have no interest in the “god” concept and I think the Bible is the most overrated book around. Also, I know it’s bad form to talk about comment voting, and I’ve never done it before. But I saw the greyed-out vanitas comment and gave it my upvote to undo a bit of the damage. I mean, come on.

muzani 5y ago

Once you can let go of the world and everything in it, you have an amazing amount of freedom. It makes you invincible, you no longer feel like you have to grip on to wealth for your safety or your family's. You don't feel like you have to prove yourself to anyone. You focus on the things that matter, the things that do good.

aerovistae 5y ago

Okay, Ecclesiastes is one of my favorite books ever, but referring to its message as if it were the message of the whole Bible is incredibly disingenuous, misleading, and unlikely to get anyone to actually read what you're talking about -- how would they know it was that _one_ section? And quoting it in Latin with no translation is incredibly pompous.