"The Worse, the Better."

The quotation, "The Worse, the Better," means that if things get worse, then that will help them get better. It has wide application, but the main application is the idea that the political situation must get intolerable so people will rise up and so something about it, e.g. have a violent communist revolution.

Phrasing

Here are a variety of ways you might say it:

"The worse the better."

"The worse, the better."

"The Worse, the Better."

"чем хуже, тем лучше" or Chyem hoozhye, tyem looschye."
(correct Russian)

"Xуже, лучше" or "Hoozhye, looshchye."
(abbreviated Russian)

"Malior melior."
(abbreviated dog Latin)

"Tanto malior tanto melior."
(long dog Latin (does that mean dachsund Latin?))

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I thank Dimitriy Masterov and Professor Ben Golub for correcting my Russian on Twitter. My friend the classics PhD suggested "tanto". I don't know if I did it right. He said it was some sort of a outlandish ablative preposition in this context (not his words; I forget his technical term but I will ask him).

History

The quotation, "The Worse, the Better," means that if things get worse, then that will help them get better. It has wide application, but the main application is the idea that the political situation must get intolerable so people will rise up and so something about it, e.g. have a violent communist revolution.

Dimitriy Masterov says it is from Dostoevski, xxxx, chapter II: "ВОЗМОЖНО ЛЬ У НАС СПРАШИВАТЬЕВРОПЕЙСКИХ ФИНАНСОВ?", "Questions to Ask Ourselves of European Finance,", or something like that.