Did Stolypin say: “In Russia, everything changes in 10 years, but in 200 years - nothing”?

We figure out how fair it is to associate these words with the famous reformer.

In recent years on the Internet, the phrase is often found: "In Russia, everything has been changing in 10 years, in 200 years - nothing." This expression with different variants of numbers (5 years, 20 years) is also mentioned on "Mail.ru answers", and c article by Nikita Mikhalkov. Most often, its authorship is attributed to the Prime Minister of the Russian Empire Peter Stolypin. We find out if Stolypin really said.

We could not find such words either on Stolypin's page B “Wikitate", Not in the list of his famous phrases on the site Stolypin Heritage Study Fund, not in any other such source. Apparently, relatively recently, the quote was considered almost folk. This can be explained why the word order changes so easily in it, 10 years turn into 5 or 20, and 200 into 100 or 300.

10 years ago, this phrase (without attributing to a specific author) was used in the eyeliner to interview historian Evgeny Anisimova for the newspaper of the Siberian Federal University, and economist Sergei Guriev mentioned her in Comments In the case of Khodorkovsky. On several resources, the author of the statement was called the writer Saltykov-Shchedrin.

But still, we managed to find the first documented mention of this phrase and even get confirmation from its author. It was a doctor and writer Maxim Osipov. Here is a fragment from his autobiographical story "In his native land", which was published In 2007 in the journal "Banner":

Medical assistance in Rus', as before, is very accessible, but not very effective: “Do you believe it,” said the doctor in a loud or quiet voice ... that I never fly from self -interest ... Of course, I would put your nose, but it will be much worse. Give better action of nature itself. Wash with cold water more often, and I assure you that you, without your nose, be as healthy as if you had it. ” So they are approximately treated now: in five years in Russia, a lot is changing, in two hundred - nothing. Doctors and patients are still perfect for each other.

Osipov reportedthat he wrote this phrase in his diary back in 2003 is quite difficult to imagine that four years before the publication of the story, some new details from the performances or texts of Stolypin became known. Why exactly this quote was attributed to him - the question is open. Perhaps, in the popular consciousness, she superimposed on Really belonging Stolypin the words: "Give the state 20 years of peace, internal and external, and you will not recognize present -day Russia."

Incorrect attribution of quote

What do our verdicts mean?