Thread: Russian proverb

Hi,

Does anyone know what is the Russian translation of the proverb, "Better is the enemy of good enough?" Thanks.

Originally Posted by jurban

Hi,

Does anyone know what is the Russian translation of the proverb, "Better is the enemy of good enough?" Thanks.

"Лучшее - враг хорошего."

I don't even know what this proverb means in English. Explain.

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Pravit's nitpicking perfectionist tendencies have complled him to edit this post 2343 times in total.

I'm assuming that, to a lazy person, "better" would be the enemy because they would just be content to leave it at "good enough".

Nope, it has nothing to do with lazyness. It means that, for example, if you have done something good enough, and there is an opportunity to do it even better, it is not worth the time and effort to redo it. Thus, "better" is enemy of "good enough".

I don't think it is even a proverb, it is kind of an aphorism, rather. Someone said this one day about something.

It reminds me of a theory about Soviet drama (drama as in theater plays). As you perhaps know, one of the most common denominators of all plays is that they are built around some kind of a conflict -- typically a conflict of good vs evil. Well, our wise drama theoreticians used to say that since in Soviet Union all things evil and bad had been destroyed, a Soviet play should be founded on a conflict of good vs better. Doh!

It means that, for example, if you have done something good enough

Should be 'well enough'.

Oh. I thought it meant something like "If you keep trying to make something better you will end up screwing it up." That's happened to me plenty of times. Hence the little "fake edit" thingy. Stupid English proverbs. For the longest time I didn't understand what "horse of another color" or "to change horses in midstream" meant. Stupid horses...

Originally Posted by Pravit

Oh. I thought it meant something like "If you keep trying to make something better you will end up screwing it up." That's happened to me plenty of times. Hence the little "fake edit" thingy. Stupid English proverbs. For the longest time I didn't understand what "horse of another color" or "to change horses in midstream" meant. Stupid horses...

Right, it could mean this too in some contexts.

Originally Posted by joysof

Should be 'well enough'.

Thanks.

What about a translation for "leave well enough alone" ??

Originally Posted by emka71aln

What about a translation for "leave well enough alone" ??

Do you mean this is a proverb too? Never heard this one.

Well, not exactly a proverb, but it is one of those things people say a lot. It means the same as "don't fix it if it ain't broke"

Originally Posted by emka71aln

Well, not exactly a proverb, but it is one of those things people say a lot. It means the same as "don't fix it if it ain't broke"

"Не тронь говно - не воняет".

Sorry, if it sounds rather rude.

Haha, that's awesome. Is that a pretty common thing to hear?

Not very much common, I think, but this dictum is, I'd rather say, somewhere in the background of every Russian mind.

Originally Posted by Propp

Originally Posted by emka71aln

Well, not exactly a proverb, but it is one of those things people say a lot. It means the same as "don't fix it if it ain't broke"

"Не тронь говно - не воняет".

Sorry, if it sounds rather rude.

But it is not the same thing