Cyril Connolly's The Unquiet Grave Translation Cheat Sheet (Part 2)

The Unquiet Grave is a book written by Cyril Connolly in 1944.  It is a book of self-reflection written by a writer in a time of propaganda, war, and private grief.  In this collection of musings, exploration, quotes and aphorisms, Connolly wishes to escape and show solidarity to France and to Western culture by "quoting as many passages as he could from the French".  And quote in French he did, and some Latin as well.  Because not all of us are polyglot like Connolly, I have made a collection of my own to help translate some of the original text from already translated sources, Wikipedia, Google Translate, and, my own rough translation and interpretation.  The page number is based on the First Persea Edition 1982 (and the fourth printing in 1999).

This is the part 2 of the translation which covers the second half of Chapter 1.
The first half of Chapter 1 can be found in Part 1.

Original Text Pascal writes, "Le moi est haïssable ... le moi a deux qualités: il est injuste en soi, en ce qu'il se fait centre du tout; il est incommode aux autres, en ce qu'il les veut asservir: car chaque moi est l'ennemi et voudrait être le tyran de tous les autres". "Qu'on s'imagine un nombre d'hommes dans dans les chaînes, et tous condamnés à la mort, dont les uns étant chaque jour égorgés à la vue des autres, ceux qui restent voient leur propre condition dans celle de leurs semblables, et, se regardant les uns et les autres avec douleur et sans espérance, attendent à leur tour. C'est l'image de la condition des hommes." [- Pascal] Christmas Eve: Dégoûté de tout. Midwinter cafard. "Manes Palinuri esse placandos!" 'Aristippus parlant à des jeunes gens qui rougissaient de le voir entrer chez une courtisane: "Le vice est de n'en pas sortir, non pas d'y entrer."' - MONTAIGNE (Essais, III, v) oeil de boeuf "La liberté et l'oisiveté qui sont mes maîtresses qualités". [- MONTAIGNE] "L'expérience confirme que la mollesse ou l'indulgence pour soi et la dureté pour les autres n'est qu'un seul et même vice". [- Home Truth from La Bruyère] "C'est un contrat tacite entre deux personnes sensibles et vertueuses. Je dis sensibles car un moine, un solitaire peut n'étre point méchant et vivre sans connaître l'amitié. Je dis vertueuses, car les méchants n'ont que des compolices, les voluptueux ont des compagnons de débauche, les intéressés ont des associés, les politiques assemblent des fâcheux, le commun des hommes oisifs a des liaisons, les princes ont des courtisans: les hommes vertueux ont seuls des amis." [- Voltaire on Friendship] ver solitaire Lacrimae Rerum Angoisse des Gares TOUT EST DÉGOÛT ET MISÈRE. Madame du Deffand to Horace Walpole: 'Ennui. C'est une maladie de l'âme dont nous afflige la nature en nous donnant l'existence; c'est le ver solitaire qui absorbe tout ... "Ah! je le répète sans cesse, il n'y a qu'un malheur, celui d'être né." Comment est-il possible qu'on craigne la fin d'une vie aussi triste ... Divertissez-vous, mon ami, le plus que vous pourrez; ne vous affligez point de mon état, nous étions presque perdus l'un pour l'autre; nous ne nous devions jamais revoir; vous me regretterez, parce qu'on est bien aise de se savoir aimé.'

Translation to English The Self is hateful ... the Self has two qualities: it is unjust in itself since it makes itself the centre of everything; it is inconvenient to others since it would enslave them; for each self is the enemy, and would like to be the tyrant of all others. - Pascal, Penseés (Laf. 597, Br. 455) Let us imagine a number of men in chains, and all condemned to death, where some are killed each day in the sight of the others, and those who remain see their own fate in that of their fellows, and wait their turn, looking at each other sorrowfully and without hope.  It is an image of the condition of men. - Pascal, Penseés (Laf. 434, Br 199) Disgust for everything. Midwinter Depression (cafard is also french for cockroach). The ghost of Palinurus be appeased. [extract of Servius's commentaries on the Aeneid.] Aristippus, who, speaking to some young men who blushed to see him go into a scandalous house, said "the vice is in not coming out, but not in going in." [Aristippus is a philosopher and a pupil of Socrates.] small round window (ox-eye window) Liberty and idleness, that are my mistresses' qualities Experience confirms that gentleness or indulgence for oneself and harshness towards others is but one and the same vice. [La Bruyère, Characters, IV] It is a tacit contact between two sensible and virtuous persons. I say sensible, for a monk or a recluse can be not wicked and lives without knowing friendship.  I say virtuous, for the wicked have only accomplices, the voluptuous have companions in debauchery, the self-seekers have associates, the politicians assemble factions, the generality of idle men have connections, the princes have courtiers. Virtuous men alone have friends. [Voltaire, Philosophical Dictionary, Friendship] tapeworm Tears for things [Aeneid, I, 462] Station Anxiety All is repulsive and miserable. Boredom. It is a sickness of the soul with which nature afflicts us by giving us existence; it is the tapeworm that absorbs all ... "Ah! I repeat it incessantly, there is only one misfortune, that of being born." How is it possible that we fear the end of such as sad life ... Enjoy, my friend, as much as you can; do not be afflicted by my condition, we were almost lost to each other; we never need to see each other again; you will miss me, because it is nice knowing that you are loved. [Walpole was first ashamed of being "pursued" by Madame du Deffand because she was 20 years older than him but he enjoyed her society and they maintained a close correspondence for 15 years till her death.  She entrusted her dog and her papers to Walpole when she died.]

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Cyril Connolly's The Unquiet Grave Translation Cheat Sheet (Part 1)

The Unquiet Grave is a book written by Cyril Connolly in 1944.  It is a book of self-reflection written by a writer in a time of propaganda, war, and private grief.  In this collection of musings, exploration, quotes and aphorisms, Connolly wishes to escape and show solidarity to France and to Western culture by "quoting as many passages as he could from the French".  And quote in French he did, and some Latin as well.  Because not all of us are polyglot like Connolly, I have made a collection of my own to help translate some of the original text from already translated sources, Wikipedia, Google Translate, and, my own rough translation and interpretation.  The page number is based on the First Persea Edition 1982 (and the fourth printing in 1999).

Original Text Ecce Gubernator "Les plus forts y ont péri. L'art est un luxe; il veut des mains blanches et calmes. On fait d'abord une petite concession, puis deux, puis vingt. On s'illusionne sur sa moralité pendant longtemps. Puis on s'en fout complètement et puis on devient imbécile." - FLAUBERT "Bien écrire c'est à la fois bien sentir, bien penser et bien dire." - BUFFON  Brevis hic est fructus homullis "... je t'aurais rendu un peu de service. J'y tiens TELLEMENT - si tu savais comme j'y tiens. ..."  - W. SICKERT (to Nina Hamnett). WISDOM of PASCAL 1623-1662 "Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre." "Notre nature est dans le mouvement; les repos entier est la mort." Ennui: "Rien n'est si insupportable à l'homme que d'être dans un plein repos, sans passions, sans affaire, sans divertissement, sans application. Il sent alors son néant, son insuffisance, sa dépendance, son impuissance, son vide. Incontinent il sortira du fond de son âme l'ennui, la noirceur, la tristesse, le chagrin, le dépit, le désespoir." Misère: "La seule chose qui nous console de nos misères est le divertissement, et cependant c'est la plus grande de nos misères, car c'est cela qui nous empèche principalement de songer à nous, et qui nous fait perdre insensiblement." La Gloire:  "L'admiration gâte tout dès l'enfance: Oh! que cela est bien dit! Oh! qu'il a bien fait! Qu'il est sage, etc. ..." "Les enfants de Port-Royal, auxquels on ne donne point cet aiguillon d'envie et de gloire, tombent dans la nonchalance."

Translation to English Here comes the pilot. The strongest perished there. Art is a luxury; it requires calm white hands.  First you make a small concession, then two, then twenty.  You are deceived by your morality for a long time.  Then you don't give a damn and then you become an imbecile. - Flaubert's letter to Ernest Feydeau November 1859. To write well is to feel well, think well, and speak well. - Buffon (rearranged by Flaubert whom Connolly quoted) in a lecture on the style of pronunciation at the French Academy on August 25, 1753. Brief is this fruit of joy to paltry man. - Lucretius, De Rerum Natura I would have provided you some service.  I really like it - if you only knew how much I like it. All the misfortune of men comes from one thing, which is not knowing how to remain rested in a room. Our nature is in motion; complete rest is death. Boredom: "Nothing is so insupportable to man as to be in complete rest, without passion, without business, without entertainment, without use, He feels then his nothingness, his insufficiency, his dependence, his impotence, his emptiness.  Boredom, darkness, sadness, sorrow, frustration, despair will emerge unrestrained from the depths of his soul." Misery: "The only thing which consoles us from our miseries is entertainment, and yet that is the greatest of our miseries for that is what prevents us from self reflection, and which makes us lose indifferently." Glory: "Admiration spoils everything since childhood: Oh, that is well said! Oh, that is done well! That he is smart, etc..." The children of Port-Royal, who are not given this sting of envy and glory, fall into indolence.

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Part 2 of the Translation (Second half of Chapter 1)

Americonned!

Or a 3 am drunk letter to America

What happened America? You used to be cool. Why do you choose to put a brake on your “truth, justice, and the American way”? Was I too optimistic about your intelligence or judgement to think that you are mature enough to embrace steady progress instead of fear and empty promises?  You had broccoli and an enigmatic bottle of coke in front of you and you chose the coke, which might not even be coke, with its artificial sweetener, sizzle, branding, carcinogen, and a promise to make you feel good. After 8 years of healthy diet, you chose to throw it all away for some crappy junk food because the new regime of healthy diet, while similar, tastes bland and not as great as the last one. You have never acted more like a petulant child than this act of electing a petulant child into office.

8 years ago you gave multiracial kids with a funny name everywhere hope that if they are smart and kind and eloquent and work really hard, they could one day attain a future, an “American dream”, that wasn't meant for someone with a humble or less than humble beginning. Now 8 years later, you have taken this hope and gifted it to every racist rich misogynist man by validating his fantasy that if he just taps into the most deplorable part of the human nature, he could again, as he has been doing throughout most of human history, attain the right to rule over all of masses by peddling fear, mistrust, and empty promises to the weak, old, and uneducated.

Why are you afraid of progress? After the enlightened years of JFK, Clinton, and Obama, you have chosen a crook, an idiot, a con man to replace them! All those improvements you have made on economy, equality, science, international relations, human rights, and stability could be all gone in the blink of an eye.  You know how hard it is to regain a reputation yet you didn't care.  I defended you, you know.  Despite all your shoddy history of not taking care of your own and meddling in others’ business, I told anyone who would listen that you were essentially good, that you might make mistakes but you always come through. I have always argued that it is better for you to be in charge of the world than someone else because you had principle and good intentions. I didn't think a country like yours which represents the best of democracy would go in the way of Putin's Russia, Erdogan's Turkey, Brexit's UK, Abbott's Australia, or Duterte’s Philippines. Now you have and maybe worse. You are no longer exceptional. You have just provided a modern master class of how to manipulate the masses or why democracy doesn’t work to all the totalitarian and religious fundamentalist regimes. How can I continue to defend you after you have given the most powerful position of the world to a con artist with no principle, no integrity, and no empathy. Yes, you have been conned and you don't know even know it.

Russia has fallen behind, EU has broken up, and China hasn't caught up. You were at the peak of your power like never before in history. Yet your bad judgement in the name of “making American great again!” has done the exact opposite.  You have chosen to isolate yourself, turned off your beacon of “freedom and democracy”, and relinquished your dominance to shirk responsibility to both your own people and the world.  Maybe you don’t want the responsibility of being the only superpower; maybe you wanted the thrill of being a rogue nation that could bomb the shit out of every country that you don’t like; maybe you just wanted to be a bully again.  But you could have done all these (and had done all these and more) without being asshole to your own people and your friends.

I want to believe in human decency. I want to believe in you. I want to hold on to my hope that you, or at least most of you, are decent. But in times like this, I would be delusional if I said that this belief and hope have not been wavered.  Your terrible choice has not only set yourself back. You might just have doomed us all.  You have been conned by a snake-oil salesman and his deplorables. You said that you wanted transparency, yet you have chosen a man who cannot even show you his tax returns. You said that you wanted to drain the swamp, yet you have chosen a man whose team consists of worst scums of the swamp. You said that you wanted to have a strong leader who can stand up to the world, yet you have chosen a man who kowtows to Putin. I don't know what you stand for anymore. Are all these reasons and slogans for choosing this con man just codes and euphemisms to be simply racist, sexist, and vile again? I don't want to believe it but I am starting to have no choice but to. You have been manipulated into choosing a fake strong man whose qualities are not unlike those of the corrupt banana republic dictators you had helped installed all over the world.  Is that it?  Are you tired of being on the top of the world? Do you simply want to be yourself again, to be bad again, to hold yourself to standard that is not befitting of your stature? What's even your stature or standard anymore? You have lowered yourself so much that I don't even know what to think anymore.   

I am not in an optimistic place where I think you could right this wrong in 4 or 8 or even 12 years. Hope is a dangerous thing especially in times like this but I cannot abandon all hope. Please don't lose heart. Though this mistake will haunt you forever when you pay for his retirement fund, when you erect his gaudy museum, and when you, and the rest of us, have to live through the consequence of his supreme courts and policies, I still want to believe and have the audacity to hope that you will one day recover from this and become a normal nation again like so many others have done before you.  If Rome can survive Nero and Caligula, you can survive this.

More Quotes for People in Need of Hope

Or how to deal with WTF just happened.

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.

- Desmond Tutu

I find hope in the darkness of days, and focus in the brightest.  I do not judge the universe.

- Dalai Lama

I simply can't build my hopes on a foundation of confusion, misery and death... I think... peace and tranquility will return again.

- Anne Frank

Just as despair can come to one only from other human beings, hope, too, can be given to one only by other human beings.

- Elie Wiesel

Quotes from The Shawshank Redemption

Fear can hold you prisoner, Hope can set you free

Remember, Red.  Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.  I will be hoping that this letter finds you, and finds you well.

 - Andy Dufresne [in a letter to Red]

I find I'm so excited I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head.  I think it is the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain.  I hope I can make it across the border.  I hope to see my friend, and shake his hand.  I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.

 - Red [on a bus to the Pacific]