Alexander Pushkin

Every line we carry

Each one links to its source, what it means, and the shirt in any of our looks.

1. There is rapture in battle, and at the edge of the dark abyss.

   Pushkin names a feeling every surfer, climber and fighter knows: danger can make you more alive, not less. Standing at the edge sharpens everything. Respect that pull, and use it to go further than fear would let you.

   A Feast in Time of Plague (1830), Walsingham's Hymn, our translation from the Russian

2. Rapture in the raging ocean, among the threatening waves and the storming dark.

   The same hymn finds rapture in a raging sea, the place most people fear. Big water strips life down to the next wave and the next breath. Paddle out with respect, and let the storm show you what you are made of.

   A Feast in Time of Plague (1830), Walsingham's Hymn, our translation from the Russian

3. Genius and villainy are two things that don't go together.

   Mozart says it lightly over dinner; Salieri answers "You think so?" and only then drops the poison in his glass. Pushkin leaves the question open, but the line has stood as a verdict: real greatness and real evil cannot share one soul. Talent without decency is not genius.

   Mozart and Salieri (1830), Scene II, our translation from the Russian

4. There is no happiness on earth, but there is peace and freedom.

   Pushkin gives up chasing happiness as a fixed state and aims for something sturdier. Peace and freedom you can actually build. Stop waiting to be happy and start arranging a quiet, free life.

   'It's time, my friend, it's time' (1834), our translation from the Russian

5. We plan to live, and look: we die.

   We keep living as if real life starts later, after the next plan works out. Pushkin, dead at 37, saw how fast later arrives. Live the life you are planning now, in the days you actually have.

   'It's time, my friend, it's time' (1834), our translation from the Russian

6. Blessed is he who was young when young, and grew up in time.

   Every age has its job. Be bold and a little wild when you are young; take responsibility when it is time. Trouble comes from doing either one in the wrong season.

   Eugene Onegin (1833), Ch. 8, st. X, our translation from the Russian

7. Don't beg for duty. Don't dodge it.

   Grinyov's father gives his son a soldier's rule: don't push yourself forward to be noticed, and don't wriggle out when called. Show up for what is yours to do, no more and no less. It is a quiet, sturdy way to keep your honor.

   The Captain's Daughter (1836), Ch. I, our translation from the Russian