Book: Smoke

Well, of course, right there, by the way, the rotten West will also get it. What a story, think! He beats us at all points, this West, but rotten! And even if we really despised him,” continued Potugin, “otherwise it’s all a phrase and a lie. To scold him, we scold him, but we value only his opinion, that is, in essence, the opinion of the Parisian lazybones.

Exceptions, you know, only prove the rule.

Converge, for example, ten of the British, they immediately start talking about the submarine Telegraph, the tax on paper, on the method to fabricate, rat skins, that is something positive and defined; together ten Germans, well, then, of course, Schleswig-Holstein and the unity of Germany will be on stage; ten of the French come together, the conversation inevitably comes down to "strawberries", as there are neither wag; and together ten Russian, immediately raises the question of the value of the future of Russia, but in such General terms, from the eggs of Leda, unproven, desperate.

Human nature is changing? How in the cradle, so in the grave.