A Word on Statistics (trs. by Joanna Trzeciak) By Wisława Szymborska Translated By Joanna Trzeciak Share Out of every hundred people those who always know better: fifty-two. Unsure of every step: almost all the rest. Ready to help, if it doesn't take long: forty-nine. Always good, because they cannot be otherwise: four—well, maybe five. Able to admire without envy: eighteen. Led to error by youth (which passes): sixty, plus or minus. Those not to be messed with: forty and four. Living in constant fear of someone or something: seventy-seven. Capable of happiness: twenty-some-odd at most. Harmless alone, turning savage in crowds: more than half, for sure. Cruel when forced by circumstances: it's better not to know, not even approximately. Wise in hindsight: not many more than wise in foresight. Getting nothing out of life except things: thirty (though I would like to be wrong). Doubled over in pain and without a flashlight in the dark: eighty-three, sooner or later. Those who are just: quite a few at thirty-five. But if it takes effort to understand: three. Worthy of empathy: ninety-nine. Mortal: one hundred out of one hundred— a figure that has never varied yet. Copyright Credit: Wislawa Szymborska, "A Word on Statistics" from Miracle Fair. Copyright © 2002 by Wislawa Szymborska. Reprinted by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. Source: Miracle Fair (W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2002)
Deeply moved by #TheLandOfTheLiving @nationaltheatre.org.uk tonight.
I commend this to us all, #mortal, but not least for the devil's percentage, 52. #ThoseWhoAlwaysKnowBetter
