Arbeit ist ein Rauschgift, das wie ein Medikament aussieht

English translation: suggestion

12:19 Feb 22, 2005

German to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Idioms / Maxims / Sayings / Quotations

German term or phrase: Arbeit ist ein Rauschgift, das wie ein Medikament aussieht

Does anyone know the correct translation for this quotation from Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar named Desire"? My Google searches so far have all drawn a blank...

This is yet another extract from the company website I was doing last night.

Claire Cox KudoZ activity Questions: 665 (none open) (73 closed without grading) Answers: 1031 United Kingdom
Local time: 15:31

English translation:suggestion

Explanation:
If you can dispense with authenticity (which someone seems to have done somewhere along the line, judging from lively the 'Ask the asker' discussion), you could translate this as 'Work is a drug masquerading as a medicine'.
BTW, this strikes me as a rather subversive motto for someone in a presumably 'responsible' management position.

Selected response from:

Ken Cox
Local time: 16:31

Grading comment

Thanks Kenneth - great minds think alike - and it was good to have confirmation of my translation
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +5

suggestion

Ken Cox

see quote below

Terry Gilman

Discussion entries: 8

Answers

1 hr confidence:

see quote below

Explanation:
You may have seen this one already, it is not exact, but medical (sedative). Harder to spell than tennessee williams - I'll be back with the

Maughm - The Explorer

"I doubt it. Do you know, it seems to me that a great deal of nonsense is talked about the dignity of work. Work is a drug that dull people take to avoid the pangs of unmitigated boredom. It has been adorned with fine phrases, because it is a necessity to most men, and men always gild the pill they're obliged to swallow. Work is a sedative. It keeps people quiet and contented. It makes them good material for their leaders. I think the greatest imposture of Christian times is the sanctification of labour. You see, the early Christians were slaves, and it was necessary to show them that their obligatory toil was noble and virtuous. But when all is said and done, a man works to earn his bread and to keep his wife and children; it is a painful necessity, but there is nothing heroic in it. If people choose to put a higher value on the means than on the end, I can only pass with a shrug of the shoulders, and regret the paucity of their intelligence."

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Note added at 1 hr 59 mins (2005-02-22 14:19:41 GMT)
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Somerset Maugham

http://www.litrix.com/explor/explo003.htm

Terry Gilman
Germany
Local time: 16:31
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 4

2 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +5

suggestion

Ken Cox
Local time: 16:31
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 65

Grading comment

Thanks Kenneth - great minds think alike - and it was good to have confirmation of my translation

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