Who said, "Happy hours don't watch"? Schiller, Griboedov or Einstein?

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Everyone knows that time spent in joy and pleasure passes unnoticed and very quickly. But the painful expectation or hard work, on the contrary, drags on endlessly, and it seems that there will never be an end to it. This idea was formulated by writers, prose writers and poets in different ways and many times. Scientists also have their own opinions on this issue.

Poets about time

The German poet Johann Schiller was one of those who said: "Happy hours are not watched." He expressed his opinion, however, somewhat differently. In the drama "Piccolomini", written by him in 1800, there is a phrase that, in a free translation, sounds like this: "For those who are happy, the clock is not heard."

"Stop a moment, you're great!" - in these lines of Goethe one can hear regret that everything good in life passes too quickly, and at the same time expresses a passionate desire to expand the temporal boundaries of this joyfulstatus.

What did the one who said: "Happy hours do not watch" mean to express? The elusiveness of happiness, the inability to feel it instantly, and only its subsequent understanding has always worried both philosophers and ordinary people who reflect on life. “Happiness is what it once was,” many people think so. “I remember, and I understand that it was then that I was happy,” others say. And everyone agrees that “good, but not enough…”

Griboedov and his aphorisms

To the question of who said: "Happy hours do not watch", there is a definite answer. This is Griboyedov's Sophia from the comedy Woe from Wit, which was released in 1824.

In the modern Russian language there are many proverbs and sayings borrowed from literary works. They are so widespread that their use has not been indicative of erudition for a long time. Not everyone who says the words “I would be glad to serve, it’s sickening to serve” will certainly read the immortal comedy and know what Chatsky said. The same applies to the expression "happy hours do not watch." Griboyedov wrote aphoristically, he became the author of many catchphrases. Only four words, one of which is a preposition, convey a deep philosophical thought. For anyone who understands literature, it is clear that the ability to convey a complex picture of life in a concise form is a sign of high art, and sometimes even the genius of the author.

Alexander Sergeevich Griboyedov was a multi-talented person. Poet, composer and diplomat, he died attragic circumstances, defending the interests of the motherland. He was only 34 years old. The poem "Woe from Wit" and Griboyedov's w altz have forever entered the treasury of Russian culture.

Einstein, love, watch and frying pan

Scientists were also not indifferent to the issue of time. One of those who said: "Happy hours do not watch" was none other than Albert Einstein. He generally believed that if a researcher cannot explain the essence of his work to a five-year-old child in five minutes, then he can safely be called a charlatan. When a non-physics correspondent asked Einstein what "time relativity" meant, he found a figurative example. If a young man talks with a girl dear to his heart, then for him many hours will seem like one moment. But if the same young man is seated on a hot frying pan, then every second for him will be equivalent to a century. This is the interpretation given to the phrase "happy hours do not observe" the author of the theory of relativity.