War and Peace

And at that moment Pierre felt that Helene not only could, but must, be his wife, and that it could not be otherwise. He knew this at that moment as surely as if he had been standing at the altar with her. How and when this would be he did not know, he did not even know if it would be a good thing (he even felt, he knew not why, that it would be a

"So it is all finished!" he thought. "And how has it all happened? How quickly! Now I know that not because of her alone, nor of myself alone, but because of everyone, it must inevitably come about.

"Desire nothing for thyself, seek nothing, be not anxious or envious. Man's future and thy own fate must remain hidden from thee, but live so that thou mayest be ready for anything. If it be God's will to prove thee in the duties of marriage, be ready to fulfill His will."

No one has ever complained yet of being too much loved;

"But no doubt it always is and must be so!" he consoled himself. "And besides, what have I done to bring it about? How did it begin?

He regarded his whole life as a continual round of amusement which someone for some reason had to provide for him.

he felt a sense of bewilderment, bustle, and continual expectation of some good, always in front of him but never attained.

"Because not everything happens as one expects or with the smoothness of a parade.

Prince Andrew listened attentively to Bagration's colloquies with the commanding officers and the orders he gave them and, to his surprise, found that no orders were really given, but that Prince Bagration tried to make it appear that everything done by necessity, by accident, or by the will of subordinate commanders was done, if not by his direct