# What does not destroy me makes me strong



## AlexTheFrog

Hello/Nin hao,

Does anyone know how an equivalent in Chinese Mandarin of " _What does not destroy me makes me strong_ " from  Friedrich Nietzsche -> 
Meaning = Good/bad experiences, if not lethal, make you stronger

I find it very hard to translate and many of my chinese friends even struggle with it


Thanks


----------



## xiaolijie

This is one I found on the net (and you can probably find a few similar ones):
凡是没让我挂掉的，都使我更坚强


----------



## AlexTheFrog

xie xie ni


----------



## SuperXW

xiaolijie said:


> This is one I found on the net (and you can probably find a few similar ones):
> 凡是没让我挂掉的，都使我更坚强



挂掉 is obviously a slang of "dead", which makes the translation an informal one. It's good for the Internet, bad for textbooks.
To make a formal tone, you probably should say: 只要没有摧毁我，就会使我变得更坚强。


----------



## YaoCY

Can I understand as "要么你死，要么我亡"?


----------



## xiaolijie

YaoCY said:


> Can I understand as "要么你死，要么我亡"?


You can, in some restricted contexts . But on the whole, "要么你死，要么我亡" cannot be considered as a translation of the saying in question.


----------



## Youngfun

I don't think it has that meaning... 
For example you have an accident, and get hurt, then go to hospital, but you know that later you will recover completely.
So you can say: _What does not destroy me makes me strong...

_This is not only a phylosophical concept, it's also a scientific concept. It's the principle behind the body building.
When you make your muscles do heavy work, some "micro-fractures" occur in the muscle. Then later the broken parts will be replaced by newly-born stronger muscle cells, that's why you'll have bigger muscles and you'll become stronger. 

But I think SuperXW's sentence sounds more like: "If it didn't destroy me me, it will make me stronger"... I think it's useful to talk about a precise event that has just happened.
While if you are quoting the aphorism, it's "*What* does not ..."; so I think you must talk in a more general way.
So I would mix xiaolijie's sentence with SuperXW's one : 凡是没有摧毁我的（事物），都会是我变得更坚强。


----------



## xiaolijie

Youngfun said:


> So I would mix xiaolijie's sentence with SuperXW's one : 凡是没有摧毁我的（事物），都会是我变得更坚强。


It's very rare that I can "correct" you, so I'd better take my chance: 凡是没有摧毁我的（事物），都会*使*我变得更坚强。


----------



## Youngfun

Thanks xiaolijie for correcting my typo. 

Btw, I've always known this sentences as "What does not _kill_ me makes me strong".


----------



## AquisM

Same difference. The sense of the phrase doesn't change (but I agree with you).


----------



## xiaolijie

> "What does not _kill _me makes me strong"


I think _"kill"_ is what is intended by "让我挂掉" ))  in my original quote.


----------



## alastair520

xiaolijie said:


> You can, in some restricted contexts . But on the whole, "要么你死，要么我亡" cannot be considered as a translation of the saying in question.


i don't think these two are identical.  As a song by Kelly Clarkson "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger", more likely "因為經過這一次事件,我學習到更多經驗 也使我成長"


----------



## kareno999

There is a saying 大难不死 必有后福.


----------



## xiaolijie

kareno999 said:


> There is a saying 大难不死 必有后福.


This seems to be the best fit so far


----------



## kareno999

well, I wouldn't say it means the same thing as Nietsche's words, but it does sound more idiomatic.


----------



## Youngfun

Here in the 8th image there is a movie sequence with Chinese subtitle: http://ww3.sinaimg.cn/bmiddle/61e8a1fdgw1ds0i7tbi06j.jpg

任何不能杀了我的只会令我更坚强。

By the way, the other movie sentences are also great!


----------



## Kevin70s

只要没有倒下，就会变得更加坚强！
要么倒下，要么变得更加坚强！


----------



## Jhyun

I might translate it into “那些没毁掉我的事物让我更坚强”

There are hundreds of thousands of translations you can get just by googling 'What does not destroy me makes me strong 名言'.
Here is the translation I think most suitable: 未打败我的横逆让我更强壮。

I hope it does help


----------



## Razzle Storm

其不戮吾身则强吾身也。

Any classical Chinese scholars care to improve?

我不知道用文言文怎么表达“毁灭”，就用了戮，但我觉得也不能完全表达英文的个意思。文言文有同于”毁灭“”灭绝“的词吗？


----------



## OneStroke

My classical sucks, but shouldn't it be 其不戮吾身*者*则强吾身*者*也。? I've never heard of ellipsis of 者, though it probably exists.


----------



## Razzle Storm

Hm, I think if you personified it into "he who does not kill me is the one who makes me stronger", yours would work fine. I think the 其 would have to be removed for that though, but I'm pretty sure that would work (so it would be 不戮吾身者则强吾身者也). I'm sort of waiting for someone well-versed in classical to confirm one of these though.


----------



## Jhyun

其不戮吾身*者*则强吾身*者*也。
First of all,I need to declare that my classical sucks either,and I'm just a beginner in English,so I hope that you could understand what I'm saying.
其=it
者=thing/person
in this case* 其*不戮吾身 can already express the meaning of "if it doesn't destroy me".it would be unnecessary to add 者 at the end.
if you wanna add 者 into the sentence you need to take out 其,and become 不戮吾身*者*则强吾身*者*也。
there can be only one subject in the sentence.


----------



## avlee

Hi guys, there's already a thread for this topic.
Check this out: 
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1066972&highlight=弥坚


----------



## Kevin70s

Agree with OneStroke.  Here's my five cents: 挫而不折则愈强。


----------



## EmileD

Simply, 越挫越勇.


----------



## EmileD

avlee said:


> Hi guys, there's already a thread for this topic.
> Check this out:
> http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1066972&highlight=%E5%BC%A5%E5%9D%9A



Great, it said the same translation as mine. And I like this rare Chinese word '弥坚'.


----------



## Zhi

in this context, Chinese people say 在哪里跌倒就在哪里站起来 or 失败是成功之母


----------

