The younger sister was piqued, and in turn disparaged the life of a tradesman, and stood up for that of a peasant.
“I would not change my way of life for yours,” said she. “We may live roughly, but at least we are free from anxiety. You live in better style than we do, but though you often earn more than you need, you are very likely to lose all you have. You know the proverb, ‘Loss and gain are brothers twain.’ It often happens that people who are wealthy one day are begging their bread the next. Our way is safer. Though a peasant’s life is not a fat one, it is a long one. We shall never grow rich, but we shall always have enough to eat.”
The elder sister said sneeringly:
“Enough? Yes, if you like to share with the pigs and the calves! What do you know of elegance or manners! However much your good man may slave, you will die as you are living-on a dung heap-and your children the same.”
“Well, what of that?” replied the younger. “Of course our work is rough and coarse. But, on the other hand, it is sure; and we need not bow to any one. But you, in your towns, are surrounded by temptations; today all may be right, but tomorrow the Evil One may tempt your husband with cards, wine, or women, and all will go to ruin. Don’t such things happen often enough?
لماذا تسقط التفاحة عندما تنضج؟ هل إن ثقلها يشدها إلى الأرض أم أن الشمس أذبلتها وهزتها الريح فأسقطتها؟ أم هل استجابت لنداء الغلام الذي نظر إليها فراقه منظرها واستهواها؟
إن السبب لا يكمن في كل ما ذكرناه.. إن التعليل الوحيد هو تفاعل في الأعضاء فنرى العالم النباتي يعزو السقوط إلى انهيار النسيج النووي بينما يعزوه الطفل إلى استجابة صلواته المتكرره لنيل التفاحة.. قديكون الاثنان على حق..
É possível salvar uma pessoa que não quer perder-se; mas se toda a natureza está assim corrompida, pervertida, que a própria perdição lhe parece a salvação, o que fazer?
(Aleksei Aleksándrovitch)
الشخص الذي لديه فكرة خاطئة عن الحياة ستكون لديه دوماً فكرة خاطئة عن الموت.
Leo TolstoyDoes it ever happen to you," Natasha said to her brother, when they had settled in the sitting room, "does it ever happen to you that you feel there's nothing more - nothing; that everything good has already happened? And it's not really boring, but sad?"
"As if it doesn't!" he said. "It's happened to me that everything's fine, everybody's merry, and it suddenly comes into my head that it's all tiresome and we all ought to die....
Nikolushka and his upbringing, Andre, and religion were Princess Marya's comforts and joys; but, besides that, since every human being needs his personal hope, Princess Marya had in the deepest recesses of her soul a hidden dream and hope, which provided the main comfort of her life.
Leo TolstoySmiling with pleasure, they went through their memories, not sad, old people's memories, but poetic, youthful ones, those impressions from the very distant past where dream merges with reality, and they laughed softly, rejoicing at something.
Leo TolstoyHow horrified he would have been if, seven years ago, when he had just come from abroad, someone had told him that there was no need to seek or invent anything, that his rut had long been carved out for him and determined from all eternity, and that, however he twisted and turned, he would be that which everybody was in his position. He could not have believed it. Had he not wished with all his soul to establish a republic in Russia, then to become a Napoleon himself, a philosopher, a tactician, the defeater of Napoleon? Had he not seen the possibility and passionately wished to transform depraved mankind and bring his own self to the highest degree of perfection? ... He sometimes comforted himself with the thought that he happened to be leading his life just so, in the meantime; but then he would be horrified by another thought, that it was just so, in the meantime, that so many people had entered this life, this club, as he had, with all their teeth and hair, and come out of it with not a single tooth or hair left.
Leo Tolstoyلم يجعل اقتراب الموسكوفيين أكثر جدية بل على العكس. لقد ارتفع صوتان في أعماق النفوس متماثلان بالقوة, كما يحدث عادة أمام مصيبة فادحة. كان الصوت الأول يوصي بحكمة أن ينتبه إلى الخطر القريب و أن يصار إلى البحث عن الوسائل التي تنجي منه. و أما الصوت الثاني, فكان يقول بأكثر حكمة أن من التألم جداً التفكير في الخطر وأن الإنسان لا يمكن أن يعرف الخطر قبل وقوعة و لا أن يفلت من سير الأحداث و أن من الأفضل إبعاد كل تفكير منغص أمام الأمر الواقع.
Leo TolstoySelf-conceit is a sentiment entirely incompatible with genuine sorrow, and it is so firmly engrafted on human nature that even the most profound sorrow can seldom expel it altogether. Vanity in sorrow expresses itself by a desire to appear either stricken with grief or unhappy or brave: and this ignoble desire which we do not acknowledge but which hardly ever leaves us even in the deepest trouble robs our grief of its strength, dignity and sincerity.
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