Sublime

Sergei Ivanovich, who knew like no one else how to add some Attic salt8 to the end of a most abstract and serious discussion

Still, the results were charming, and not just to him—everyone said so. In fact it was all exactly what you so often see among people who are not quite rich but want to seem as though they are, and so end up resembling only each other: damasks, ebony, flowers, carpets, and bronzes. Dark and shining—everything that people of a certain class use to r

The majority of life’s problems can be solved as if they were algebraic equations: by reducing them to their simplest form. Tolstoy

"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."

And all this terrible transformation took place in him only because he ceased to have faith in himself, and began to believe in others.

It is not enough to say that any help you give to others should be mutual. If you accept help from your brothers, you should pay it back not only with money, but also with respect and with gratitude. Tolstoy

“Can one be well while suffering morally? Can one be calm in times like these if one has any feeling?” said Anna Pávlovna.