Proverbs about good deeds are accurate folk sayings, phrases that have great historical persistence, passing from generation to generation.
History of the Proverbs
A proverb is a product of oral folk art, generated by the element of oral speech. She reflected the features of national life, ways of managing, family relationships, moral standards, behavioral assessments, life rituals. After all, the art of the proverb arose originally in the speech of peasants, carpenters, coachmen, blacksmiths, hunters, coopers. Pushkin said that he learned the language from Moscow pastries, that is, listening to sayings, proverbs, which filled the speech of the pastry - women who baked ritual church bread.
What attracts the proverbs
The proverb captures life observation and gives it, using the figurative form, an extended volumetric meaning. When we say: “The forest is cut - the chips fly”, we see in front of us a very concrete picture of the work of the lumberjack. But we have in mind something else: decisive, even fatal actions will inevitably affect those who are not involved in them.
We just love the proverbs about good deeds because the truth that can be learned from them cannot be far-fetched or fake. It is directly born of life practice, is based on the experience of more than one generation of people, whose tireless work and the continuity of life flow is going on. And the same proverb can be applied to many everyday, and not only everyday, situations and cases.
Capacitive folk parables
Small folklore forms concentrate the basic worldview concepts of popular consciousness as they have evolved and existed over the centuries, accompanied by numerous historical trials. These are basic, supporting maxims, ideas about life and death, truth and lies, proverbs about good deeds, about justice and humanity.
“Good deed is strong,” the proverb says. And this belief is colorfully detailed: "A good deed does not burn, does not sink." When it is said about a good deed, that it has been living for two centuries, of course, this is not a chronological unit - a hundred years, but a term allotted to a person. And this means that the memory of a worthy deed will outlive a person for a long time. And moreover, this memory enters into life so firmly that "the dog will not forget the old good."
Prop morality
Proverbs about kindness and good deeds portray a good deed of good nature as something natural, lying in human nature: they don’t hide a good deed from anyone, but they don’t need hype, ostentatious praise: “A good deed praises itself”, that is, it speaks for itself . And, unlike dashing (evil), it walks quietly.
“Good work multiplies good,” serves to spread and strengthen it. "A good man teaches good." Such a person is compared to a light source.
Good done to people brings respect and honor to the one who has done it - this is how proverbs about a person and his good deeds teach. Not without reason for a good person they always find a worthy place - the red corner of the hut.
“Whoever does good, God will repay” - behind these similar sayings is the conviction that a good deed will certainly provoke a symmetrical response. But that is not all: to do good deeds means to make one’s own destiny happier. "Good to create - to amuse yourself." But those who do not bring good to anyone live badly.
Good - thin, evil
A good deed is opposed to evil, which (and proverbs very vigilantly see it) is firmly rooted in the world. We make a reservation at once that the semantics of the word “thin” have changed. If for our contemporary, obsessed with the problems of losing weight, this is the definition of the ideal state of his own physical complexion, then the literary Russian language still remembers that thin is a synonym for bad and evil.
“It’s good that they seek treasure, but evil is at hand.” Such statements, where the good and the bad act as a pair of antagonists, can be cited a lot. There is a deep subtext in them: if you think about it, you cannot help but see that evil, bad prevail where indifference, lack of will, carelessness are shown, it is always at hand, while a good deed requires effort. “Seek good, but evil itself will come.” And if the mind for a good deed is not enough, the proverb assures, so enough for the worst.
If virtue must be sought, as wise folk sayings teach, then it can also be revealed in a dashing person. "And in the chaff (in the garbage remaining after threshing) the grains are."
What can the word
Proverbs and sayings about good deeds include benevolent words to the latter, that is, the spoken word is equated with an effective act. Moreover, it is indispensable to a specific action, precisely indicated. "Good word, the iron gate will be unlocked." A friendly word will put a staff in hand, it can build a house, and an evil one can destroy it. The affectionate word, by the way, spoken, is likened to rain in the dry season. In the ability to find and give others words of support, the proverb discovers the true value of a person, his wealth - and the homeless will become rich if he can find a good word.
Proverbs of Good Deeds for Children
The richest composition of these verbal treasures - proverbs was formed for all: the old, and small, and rich, and poor alike. The child heard and remembered, imbued with statements, the meaning of which in its entirety, could possibly be revealed to him only in adulthood. The rhythmically organized, permeated form of utterance is designed to be imprinted in the memory, which will carry it through the years. Actually, this was the only possible way to save the proverb as a brief parable, a means of transmitting information in those days when literacy was not mass. A proverb, indeed, should "walk" in people.
A proverb can be easily remembered in childhood also because it often has a very bright, even whip imagery, ironic or playful intonation: “Good good, and a thin half in half” assures us that a good dog is better than a thin person.
There are proverbs about good deeds and deeds with a clear instructive didactic bias. You can’t say about them that they were intended specifically for children or youth. The advice laid down in them, expressed in time, is always and for all appropriate: "It is never too late to do a good deed."
Among them there are those who directly indicate what to learn from an early age — good. Because then the bad will not come to mind. Another proverbial warning: do not praise yourself by doing a good deed. Let the children learn with their mother’s milk that a good thing that is useful to people will not remain without a reward.
Languages are different, but the meaning is close
If we look at the proverbs of different nations about good deeds, the mentality of which is formed in other natural and historical conditions, we will see that proverbs everywhere and at all times raise actions that bring benefits.
- The English say: "A good name is better than wealth."
- Chinese proverbs appear more decisively and definitely, arguing that a wicked man can never beat the good, and that a good man will never become poor. A good deed is a manifestation of strength, because heaven helps a good person.
- Armenian claims that the sword can’t do what the bread can do.
- “Not all people are evil devils,” they say in Japan, and it reminds one of the famous Russian proverb that states that the world is not without good people. But the statement about the good, done secretly and received a clear reward, will make us think a little. Yes, however, it’s about the fact that appreciation for a good deed is guaranteed.
- But the Indian proverb about a good deed looks like a shortened to one sentence story, a convoluted dramatic plot: “He who does not respond with anger to anger saves both himself and the other.”
However, speaking of the similarities and differences of proverbs from different parts of the world, it should be borne in mind that the translation involuntarily smoothes the character of the original and, in search of the identical phraseology, slightly Russifies it.