Unfortunately such cool and wise postcards are not made in Russia anymore.
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Choosing long means staying alone
Eyes are not bullets but hit through the heart
Better by far a widow be than a wife whose man is away at sea
Buckwheat porridge is as precious as mom
There is nothing you wouldn’t do for the loved one
He who comes uncalled unserved should sit
Not pies make dinner but mouths
When poverty comes in at the door, love flies out at the window
Nothing ventured, nothing gained (To be afraid of wolves – not to go to the forest)
A great ship needs deep waters
A burden of one’s own choice is not felt
Pedestrian is not a friend of a rider
A soldier makes friends with a gun, eats from a pot and warmed by smoke
It’s better not to get used to if destined to break up
Don’t be a friend of the sky or the wind, be a friend of the ground
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
He that mischief hatches, mischief catches
Wife is not a mitten – can’t be taken off or thrown away
Choose a wife in the garden, not among dancers
Little bodies may have great souls
We like those who sing loudly but not cry bitterly
via voffka.com
Cool! I love old postcards.
Great fun. From the looks of it (spelling), they must be pre-revolution.
some of them are definitely from the WWI time
kool FIRST
okay 3rd, nice cards..
cool pics
Kinda cute
Looks like about the time of World War One. Very nice, Reminds me of some of the greeting cards that were in use in America in the 1890′s thru the First World War. Some real thought when into them.
pic 2:
an uninvited guest is worse than a Tatar
“Don’t be a friend of the sky or the wind, be a friend of the ground”
Sounds like a quote from Magic the Gathering
these are beautiful.
Pretty cards if you ignore the military propaganda. If you were sent to war by the aristocracy, you were nearly certain to be killed in the line of duty. Life back in the imperial days of Russia was hell.
Life in imperial Russia was great. You had a dose of communist propaganda.
The country was trully productive and capitalist; over 40% of entire population had their land and privately owned homes. Business were booming and so was investement. If you work hard, you can make it and become rich. It had nothing to do with belonging to artistocracy or royalty.
The only country in the world that can afford its golden ruble in WIDE CIRCULATION. Look it up and learn what it means from an economic sense. No other country had such a trmendous growth in GDP than Pre-Revolutionary Russia.
Try telling that to the millions upon millions of U.S. descendants from Russia and her occupied territories. Where were the boatloads of people sailing towards Russia? There were only a few sick ones sent back and a few others who went back to help get the rest of their loved ones out of that miserable place.
The communists were no better or worse than the aristocracy. They merely continued the status quo with an air of pretending to listen to the people.
first of all, lots of germans and others immigrated 2 Siberia and volga region.
second: Post Stalinist USSR was a good, decent place 2 live in.
Terrible, terrible translation. The problem is that the translator thought that translating Russian proverbs literally will not make sense, and so the translator made some important changes. Frankly, I think the whole meaning is lost because of that. Let me correct just a few for you.
Change:
“He who comes uncalled unserved should sit”
to
“An unwelcome guest is worse than a Tatar.” Explanation: Mongol and Tatar hordes dominated medieval Russia for several centuries, so a Tatar [conqueror] is something certainly not welcome in Russia.
Next, change “Choose a wife in the garden, not among dancers” to
“Pick your wife in the garden, not in the city” (pretty self explanatory)
Change: “He that mischief hatches, mischief catches”
to
“Do not dig a hole in the ground for others, or you will fall into yourself”
Next: Change “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” to “The one who chases two hares, will catch none”
Next: Change “Not pies make dinner but mouths” to “A dinner is not made great not by the pies, but by the ones who eat”
And so on. Thanks for posting the postcards, but the translation is pretty sloppy.
A small correction to myself:
A dinner is made great not by the pies, but by the ones who eat”
And “Nothing ventured, nothing gained” should be “If you are afraid of teeth, don’t stick it in the mouth”.
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So beautiful, peaceful postcards. They should be in the market. These are really cool.
“Don’t start a war just to try to bolster your teetering monarchy”.
A good way to find old postcard arts and other Russian historic images and expression is to search on ebay.com, many items recovered from a century ago. Always so unique and beautiful.
“”Choose a wife in the garden, not among dancers”"
…so you can have fun with dancers ,when she works in the fields