Fyodor Dostoevsky. Diary of a writer (№ 423794)

There are positively Russian people who are afraid even of Russian successes and Russian victories. They are not afraid because they wish the Russians harm, on the contrary - they grieve over any Russian failure sincerely, they are good Russians, but they are afraid of both the successes and the victories of the Russians - “because, they say, after a victorious war, self-confidence, self-praise, chauvinism will appear. , stagnation. " But the whole mistake of these good people is that they have always seen Russian progress solely in self-spitting. Yes, arrogance, perhaps, is what we need most of all now! Finally, we need self-respect, not self-spitting. Don't worry: there will be no stagnation. War will illuminate so much of the new and force so much to change the old that you would never have achieved that self-spitting and teasing, which have recently turned into mere fun.