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Lazime uingie akaunti ili kubadilisha wasifu wako au kuona wasifu wa wengine

Umeshafungua akaunti? Ingia

Ingia
Umesahau nenosiri lako?
Sijapata barua pepe ya kuthibitisha

Fungua akaunti mpya

Makala / Methali Methali ya Leo
Taarifa
Majadiliano
Methali

A promise is a debt

Jiunge
au ingia
Ili kupiga KURA kwa Methali ya Mwezi
Kura
0
Iliharirishwa miezi 5 iliyopita
by
Brighid McCarthy
View this proverb in Swahili
Ahadi ni deni
It’s a simple and profound truth about human relationships: Making a promise means creating an expectation in others. When we fail to keep our promises, we damage our relationships and our reputation. Next time you make a promise, ask yourself, "Would I sign a contract that said this?"

French
Chose promise, chose due 
A thing promised is a thing owed. 
Russian:
Долг платежом красен, а займы отдачею. 
The beauty of a debt is its payment 
Alternative translation: A debt is beautiful when it is paid off, and loans when repaid.
Latin:
Pacta sunt servanda
Agreements must be kept (an important principle of international law)
Chinese
口說無憑
Spoken words are no guarantee.
English
Your word is your bond

What do you think? Is a promise as strong as a contract?
Marejeleo
French proverb: Chose promise, chose due
Latin Proverb: Pacta sunt servanda 
Russian Proverb: attested to here and in this 1941 USSR propaganda poster
Chinese 口說無憑 Spoken words are no guarantee.
English: Word is bond
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Ingia akaunti yako ili kuona na kutoa maoni
Methali zaidi
Kalamu hushinda jambia

Ufafanuzi


Methali hii ya Kiingereza inatafsirika pia kama "Kalamu ina nguvu kuliko upanga au jambia" au " Kalamu ni kali kuliko upanga." Katika methali hii, jambia au upanga unaashiria nguvu na ukatili, na maana ya kalamu ni maneno. Ingawa upanga unaweza kushinda kwa nguvu, kalamu inaweza kuwashawishi, kuwahamasisha, na kuwaelimisha watu. Sio kila mtu ana silaha za kuwalazimisha watu wengine kufanya kile anachotaka, lakini kila mtu ana uwezo wa kubadilisha ulimwengu kupitia kile anachofikiria, kusema na kuandika kwa maneno. 

Silaha za siku hizi ni kalamu na karatasi.
 - Methali ya Kiswahili

Methali hii ni kweli kwa sababu mara nyingi maneno huchochea na kudhibiti jinsi watu wanavyotumia nguvu na silaha zao. Kwa mfano, kupitia sheria, maneno ya viongozi, mahakimu na majaji yana uwezo wa kuwafunga watu gerezani au hata kuwaua. Kutoa hotuba ya moto kwa umati wa watu wenye hasira kunaweza kuleta ghasia kali na madhara mengine (ona Juliasi Kaizari).

"Ukinipa picha, nitakupa vita."
- William Randolph Hearst
(Mwandishi wa habari na mchapishaji wa magazeti, Marekani)

Lakini pia, methali hiyo inatukumbusha nguvu ya upinzani usio na vurugu kwenye kuleta mabadiliko ya kudumu, kanuni iliyotetewa na kuonyeshwa na watu kama Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, na Nelson Mandela.  Angalia pia: Insha ya "Civil Disobedience"  na Henry David Thoreau, pamoja na Tamthilia mashuhuri ya "Antigone" na Sophocles.

Chimbuko


Nukuu hii ya "kalamu ina nguvu kuliko upanga" ilipata umaarufu kupitia tamthilia ya "Richelieu: au The Conspiracy"  na Edward Bulwer-Lytton (mwaka wa 1839, ukurasa wa 47). Lakini hakika wazo lilikuwepo kabla.

Wengine wanasema chimbuko halisi la methali hii ni Hadithi ya Ahikar. Kitabu hiki kiliandikwa takriban miaka 600 kabla ya kristu, na ni chimbuko la methali zingine kama "Ndege mkononi ana thamani ya wawili mtini"). Katika toleo letu, mfasiri hakuweza kusoma maandishi kutokana na hali ya karatasi, na maneno yalikatika. (Ukurasa 171/274) 
Dhibiti kinywa chako kwa uangalifu ...[ILIKATA]... na ufanye moyo wako kuwa mzito(?), kwa maana neno linalosemwa ni kama ndege, naye alitamkaye ni kama mtu asiye na  ...[ILIKATA]... ufundi wa maneno una nguvu zaidi kuliko ufundi wa  ...[ILIKATA]...
- Hadithi ya Ahikar, Ukurasa wa 171/274
Je, hili ndilo chimbuko halisi la methali hii, miaka zaidi ya 2,500 iliyopita? Muwe majaji...

Chanzo karibu na methali hii pia kinaonekana katika Agano la Kale:
Kwa maana neno la Mungu ni hai, tena lina nguvu, tena lina ukali kuliko upanga uwao wote ukatao kuwili.
Waebrania 4:12, Biblia

Na vilevile katika Shakespeare: 
Wengi wanaovaa panga huogopa kalamu.
-William Shakespeare
Tamthilia ya Hamlet, Sehemu ya 2, Onyesho la II (ukurasa wa 59)

 Je, unakubali kalamu hushinda jambia? Toa maoni yako hapo chini!
...

CC BY Unaruhusiwa kunakili & kusambaza mchoro huu na makala hii bila idhini, ukitaja tu chanzo (www.maktaba.org)

Iliharirishwa miezi 5 iliyopita
by
Brighid McCarthy
A penny saved is a penny earned
A penny that stays in your pocket can be used for another purpose. It could be used to buy something else, or you could lend or invest it to yield more money in the future. In economics, this principle is called "opportunity cost". When we spend money or time on one thing, we also lose the opportunity to use it for something else.

This proverb is usually attributed to Benjamin Franklin, but he did not originate it, nor did he use the exact phrase. Similar versions of the proverb appear in earlier sources. For example:
A penny spar'd is twice got.
- Outlandish Proverbs by George Herbert (1640) 

In Poor Richard's Almanac (1736), Benjamin Franklin quotes the proverb and explains it well:
Necessary Hints to Those That Would Be Rich
The use of money is all the advantage there is in having money. For six pounds a year [interest] you may have the use of one hundred pounds [a loan], provided you are a man of known prudence and honesty.
He that spends a groat [4 pence] a day idly spends idly above six pounds a year, which is the price for the use of one hundred pounds.
He that wastes idly a groat's [4  pence] worth of his time per day, one day with another, wastes the privilege of using one hundred pounds each day.
He that idly loses five shillings' worth of time loses five shillings, and might as prudently throw five shillings into the sea.
He that loses five shillings not only loses that sum, but all the advantage that might be made by turning it in dealing, which by the time that a young man becomes old will amount to a considerable sum of money.
Again, he that sells upon credit asks a price for what he sells equivalent to the principal and interest of his money for the time he is to be kept out of it, therefore, he that buys upon credit pays interest for what he buys, and he that pays ready money might let that money out to use, so that he that possesses anything he has bought pays interest for the use of it.
Yet in buying goods it is best to pay ready money, because he that sells upon credit expects to lose five per cent by bad debts; therefore he charges on all he sells upon credit an advance that shall make up that deficiency. Those who pay for what they buy upon credit pay their share of this advance. He that pays ready money escapes, or may escape, that charge.
"A penny saved is twopence clear;
A pin a day's a groat a year."

So, next time you think about spending money or time on something, ask yourself what the opportunity cost might be. If you didn't spend it, could you lend it to someone else? Could you pay off your existing debts? Could you invest in something that might bring a larger profit in the future?

...
Iliharirishwa miezi 5 iliyopita
by
Brighid McCarthy
1
All that glitters is not gold
Once upon a time long ago, there was a beautiful, intelligent and kind young woman named Portia. Many men wanted to marry her and came to woo her. Portia’s father had died and left behind a will instructing that any suitor of Portia would have to choose among three caskets, one of gold, one of silver and one of lead. Only the suitor who chose correctly would be allowed to marry Portia and inherit all her father’s wealth. One day, the Prince of Morocco came to woo Portia.

The Merchant of Venice

Watch ▶️ on YouTube 

Portia: Go draw aside the curtains and discover
The several caskets to this noble prince.
Now make your choice.

Prince of Morocco: The first, of gold, who this inscription bears,
'Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire;'
 The second, silver, which this promise carries,
 'Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves;'
 This third, dull lead, with warning all as blunt,
 'Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath.'
How shall I know if I do choose the right?

Portia: The one of them contains my picture, prince:
 If you choose that, then I am yours withal.

Prince of Morocco: Some god direct my judgment! Let me see;
 I will survey the inscriptions back again.
 What says this leaden casket?
 'Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath.'
 Must give: for what? for lead? hazard for lead?
 This casket threatens. Men that hazard all
 Do it in hope of fair advantages:
 A golden mind stoops not to shows of dross;
 I'll then nor give nor hazard aught for lead.
 What says the silver with her virgin hue?
 'Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves.'
 As much as he deserves! Pause there, Morocco,
 And weigh thy value with an even hand:
 If thou be'st rated by thy estimation,
 Thou dost deserve enough; and yet enough
 May not extend so far as to the lady:
 And yet to be afeard of my deserving
 Were but a weak disabling of myself.
 As much as I deserve! Why, that's the lady:
 I do in birth deserve her, and in fortunes,
 In graces and in qualities of breeding;
 But more than these, in love I do deserve.
 What if I stray'd no further, but chose here?
 Let's see once more this saying graved in gold
 'Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire.'
 Why, that's the lady; all the world desires her;
 From the four corners of the earth they come,
 To kiss this shrine, this mortal-breathing saint:
 The Hyrcanian deserts and the vasty wilds
 Of wide Arabia are as thoroughfares now
 For princes to come view fair Portia:
 The watery kingdom, whose ambitious head
 Spits in the face of heaven, is no bar
 To stop the foreign spirits, but they come,
 As o'er a brook, to see fair Portia.
 One of these three contains her heavenly picture.
 Is't like that lead contains her? 'Twere damnation
 To think so base a thought: it were too gross
 To rib her cerecloth in the obscure grave.
 Or shall I think in silver she's immured,
 Being ten times undervalued to tried gold?
 O sinful thought! Never so rich a gem
 Was set in worse than gold. They have in England
 A coin that bears the figure of an angel
 Stamped in gold, but that's insculp'd upon;
 But here an angel in a golden bed
 Lies all within. Deliver me the key:
 Here do I choose, and thrive I as I may!

Portia: There, take it, prince; and if my form lie there,
 Then I am yours.

[He unlocks the golden casket]
Prince of Morocco: O hell! what have we here?
 A carrion Death, within whose empty eye
 There is a written scroll! I'll read the writing.
 [Reads]
All that glitters is not gold;
Often have you heard that told:
Many a man his life hath sold
But my outside to behold:
Gilded tombs do worms enfold.
Had you been as wise as bold,
Young in limbs, in judgment old,
Your answer had not been inscroll'd:
Fare you well; your suit is cold.
 Cold, indeed; and labour lost:
 Then, farewell, heat, and welcome, frost!
 Portia, adieu. I have too grieved a heart
 To take a tedious leave: thus losers part.
 [Exit with his train.

- From The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare, Act II Scene 7
...
Iliharirishwa miezi 5 iliyopita
by
Brighid McCarthy
1
Kuokoa mia ni kuingiza mia
Methali hii inatoka Kiingereza "A penny saved is a penny earned." Maana yake, mia inayobaki mfukoni inaweza kutumiwa kwajali ya madhumuni mengine. Mifano: Inaweza kutumika kwaajili ya kununua kitu kingine, unaweza kukopesha au kuwekeza ili kuingiza riba au pesa zaidi katika siku zijazo. Katika uchumi, kanuni hii inaitwa Opportunity Costs (gharama za kukosa fursa). Tunapotumia pesa au muda kwa jambo limoja, tunapoteza pia fursa ya kuzitumia kwajili ya jambo lingine.

Methali hii huhusishwa na Benjamin Franklin, lakini si chimbuko halisi, wala hakuandika msemo huu kamili. Misemo karibu na huu ilichapishwa kabla yake. Kwa mfano: 

A penny spar'd is twice got.
Senti iliyookolewa hupatikana mara mbili.
- Outlandish Proverbs by George Herbert (1640)  
 
Katika Poor Richard's Almanac (1736), Benjamin Franklin alinukuu methali hii na alifafanua vizuri kanuni ya Opportuinty Cost hivi:

Vidokezo kwa Wale Wanaotaka kuwa Matajiri

Matumizi ya pesa ndiyo faida zote zinayopatikana ukiwa na pesa.
Kwa pound [£] sita kwa mwaka [yaani riba] unaweza kutumia  £ mia [yaani kupitia mkopo], kama unajulikana kama mwaminifu na mwenye busara.
Anayetumia groat [senti 4] kwa siku bure, hutumia pound £ zaidi ya sita kwa mwaka, ambazo ni bei ya kujipatia matumizi ya pound £ mia moja.
[Kwa hivyo] Anayepoteza muda wake wa thamani ya groat [senti 4] kwa siku, siku moja na nyingine, anapoteza fursa ya kutumia pound mia moja kila siku.
Anayepoteza muda wa shilingi tano kwa uvivu hupoteza shilingi tano, ni kama amezitupa tu baharini.
Anayepoteza shilingi tano sio tu kwamba anapoteza kiasi hicho, bali anapoteza pia faida yote ambayo ingeweza kupatikana kwa kuzitumia katika shughuli zake, ambayo, akiwa kijana, wakati wa uzee ingefikia kiasi kikubwa cha fedha.
Tena: anayeuza kwa mkopo huongeza bei ya kile anachokiuza kwa kiasi sawa riba angaliingiza na pesa hizo kwa kipindi ambacho atazikosa. Kwa hivyo, anayenunua kwa mkopo hulipa riba kwa kile anachonunua, na anayelipa pesa mara moja kwa kila anachonunua hukoa fursa ya kuzikopesha kwa wengine, kwa hivyo aliye na kitu alichonunua ameshalipa riba kwa matumizi yake.
Hata hivyo nasema kulipa mara moja unaponunua ni bora, kwa sababu anayeuza kwa mkopo anatarajia kupoteza asilimia tano ya mikopo; kwa hivyo anaongeza bei ya kile anachokiuza kwa asilimia ileile ili kuzuia hasara. Wanaolipa kwa mikopo hulipa kodi mara moja. Anayelipa kwa pesa mara moja anaweza kuzuia kodi hii
"Senti iliyohifadhiwa ni senti mbili hakika;
[haba] kwa siku ni [nne] kwa mwaka."
 
Basi, unapofikiria kutumia muda au pesa zako katika jamblo fulani, jiulize, ningekosa, ningepata fursa zipi? Pesa hizi zingeweza kutumikia vipi? Mifano: kumkopesha mwingine, kurudisha madeni uliyonayo, kubuni kitu kipya au kuwekeza katika kitu ambacho kinaweza kuleta faida kubwa mbeleni.
...
Iliharirishwa miezi 5 iliyopita
by
Brighid McCarthy