Character: Pyotr Yakovlevich Chaadayev

We owe our entire civilization, everything that we are, to our monarchs.

Providence has created us too strong to be selfish, for it has placed us outside the interests of nationalities and entrusted to us the interests of humanity.

We have never walked together with other peoples, we do not belong to any of the great families of humanity, neither to the West nor to the East, we have no traditions of either one. We exist, as it were, outside of time, and the universal education of the human race has not touched us.

The laws are established by God, and man can only cognize and fulfill them. And only in blindness can a person consider himself the creator of any laws.

My most passionate desire, my friend, to see you know the mystery of the century. There is no spiritual world, nothing more sad than a genius who does not understand its purpose. <...> I am convinced that you can bring the infinite benefit of this poor Russia, lost on this earth. Don't deceive your fate.