5 ms·

> In German there is the saying: Wer macht, hat recht which translates to who makes is right. Closest thing in English that I could think of: history is writte

> In German there is the saying: Wer macht, hat recht which translates to who makes is right. Closest thing in English that I could think of: history is written by the winners. Similar concept.

ncarroll 3y ago
I'm not sure that it is really similar. I would translate "Wer macht hat recht" to something more like "the creator knows best" or "the creator gets to choose". "History is written by the winners." has, I think a less creative context. Perhaps because history is what is written after wars, conquests and other applications of violence. The word "winners" requires and implies losers. Creation requires neither.
avgcorrection 3y ago
Not similar at all, and an absurd comparison. The former is a value/moral judgement while the latter is an empirical observation about how history is written, and not at all an embrace of such a supposed fact (which would effectively translate to “might makes right”).
- mattacular 3y ago
  Hrmm ok... since mine is so absurd, what's an English equivalent in your mind?
  - Karellen 3y ago
    "Put up or shut up"? Or maybe "patches or GTFO" :-)
  - sgtnoodle 3y ago
    "The customer is always right"?
    - ethbr0 3y ago
      That's the opposite! :) Which I guess speaks to how consumerist the US as a society is (said as an American). The closest I can come up with is "Those who can, do." (Usually seen with "... Those who can't, teach.")
  - _jackdk_ 3y ago
    Not that I've actually heard it, but you could describe the creator as "the man in the arena", which alludes to a Theodore Roosevelt speech: https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/Learn-About-TR/TR-Encyclopedia/Culture-and-Society/Man-in-the-Arena.aspx https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/Learn-About-TR/TR-En... > It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

> In German there is the saying: Wer macht, hat recht which translates to who makes is right. Closest thing in English that I could think of: history is written by the winners. Similar concept.

ncarroll 3y ago

I'm not sure that it is really similar. I would translate "Wer macht hat recht" to something more like "the creator knows best" or "the creator gets to choose". "History is written by the winners." has, I think a less creative context. Perhaps because history is what is written after wars, conquests and other applications of violence. The word "winners" requires and implies losers. Creation requires neither.

avgcorrection 3y ago

Not similar at all, and an absurd comparison. The former is a value/moral judgement while the latter is an empirical observation about how history is written, and not at all an embrace of such a supposed fact (which would effectively translate to “might makes right”).

mattacular 3y ago
Hrmm ok... since mine is so absurd, what's an English equivalent in your mind?
- Karellen 3y ago
  "Put up or shut up"? Or maybe "patches or GTFO" :-)
- sgtnoodle 3y ago
  "The customer is always right"?
  - ethbr0 3y ago
    That's the opposite! :) Which I guess speaks to how consumerist the US as a society is (said as an American). The closest I can come up with is "Those who can, do." (Usually seen with "... Those who can't, teach.")
- _jackdk_ 3y ago
  Not that I've actually heard it, but you could describe the creator as "the man in the arena", which alludes to a Theodore Roosevelt speech: https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/Learn-About-TR/TR-Encyclopedia/Culture-and-Society/Man-in-the-Arena.aspx https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/Learn-About-TR/TR-En... > It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.