金言ねこあつめ

[Murius]

Hi,

Can Yuki (or anyone who feels up to it) shed some light on this obscure maxim by French author Ste Beuve (I'm French and I haven't found anything even remotely approaching from the author in question) from the 金言ねこあつめ(kingen neko atsume) book:



過度は慎むこと.
kado wa tsutsushimu koto.

Does this mean: excess (kado) is (ha) a thing (koto) we should abstain from (tsutsushimu), thus "refrain from excess"? Yet somehow it does not sound like Ste Beuve, more like the famous delphic saying. Also the accompanying pictures show a cat in front of a fan turning the power to maximum so not much refraining going on there...

Any idea?

[community.japanese]

Murius　さん、
今日は。
Firstly, let’s think about the title of the book.
金言 has two meanings
1. great phrases, maxim as you mentioned
2. words from Buddha, imperishable truths

ねこあつめ is a cat collecting game developed by Hit-Point for iOS and Android.

Therefore, the book is ‘collection of proverb/saying/maxim.’

Secondly, 過度は慎むこと.
過度 means ‘excess’ and 慎む means ‘abstain’ as you said.
Doing too much (excess) is not good even studying or working. For example, driving too fast, eating too much, being overweight, working too much and so on.
If you drive too fast, you might have a car accident.
If you work too much, you might die from overwork. (過労死　Ｋａｒｏｕｓｈｉ)
Consequently, you should avoid them or should control yourself before being too much.
慎む also means ‘be careful about something.’
For instance, 言葉を慎まなければならない which means ‘we must be careful about what we say.’
Then the whole meaning is ‘please be careful about doing something too much’ or ‘you should not do something too much.’

The author is Yui Tsukimi and not Ste Beuve…
I hope it could be helpful.

Yuki 由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com

[Murius]

The author is Yui Tsukimi and not Ste Beuve…

Er no... Yui Tsukimi may be the editor and certainly the illustrator, but not the author of the quotes. Plus I can't see myself - however heavily intoxicated - ever misread "つきみゆい" as Sainte-Beuve.

I am quite sure "疑い わ 知 の 始まり で ある / utagai wa chi no hajimari de aru" really is from French philosopher Descartes. Actually the book format is three illustrations, the associated quote, the name of the author (in romaji...) and a short bio.

It's just Sainte-Beuve and moderation - just as Yuki and straight answers - don't seem to mix very well...

Also there are a lot of French authors in there: Descartes, Sainte-Beuve, Stendhal, Saint-Exupéry, Voltaire, Maupassant, Molière, Montaigne... That's close to half of the book. Where does the love come from?

Thanks again Yuki, your answers - however evasive and freewheeling in their assumptions - are always appreciated!

[community.japanese]

Murius san,
Konnichiwa.
According to the webpage, http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E9%87%91%E8%A8%80%E3%81%AD%E3%81%93%E3%81%82%E3%81%A4%E3%82%81-%E3%81%A4%E3%81%8D%E3%81%BF-%E3%82%86%E3%81%84/dp/4344835271, the auther is Yui Tsumiki…


By the way "疑い は 知 の 始まり で ある“？
The wa must be は because it’s a particle, right?

Yuki 由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com