Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin. Abroad (№ 303665)

"Selfish" instinct threatens to destroy, if not already destroyed all other life instincts. <...> Unwittingly pulled out the cry: surely it's all there, surely nothing else will? Surely all is lost, all? It was once a time, when told that without ideals a step can not be! Were great poets, great thinkers, and none of them mentioned "skin", none pointed to the principle of self-preservation as the ultimate goal of human endeavor. Yes, it certainly was. So surely these poets, and these thinkers, the Shakespeares, Barony, Cervantes, Dante were people of threat, be abolished?