submission [Theme]

It seems to me that the most dangerous enemies of humanity are liars. There are hundreds of thousands of liars in the world. A liar is a journalist who writes “freedom” and thinks about the freedom with which capitalists exploit workers and imperialists squeeze the juice out of colonial peoples. A liar is someone who says “peace” but in reality stands for war. A liar is someone who talks about “human dignity”, but in reality advocates humility and submission, teaches silence in the face of injustice, and turns a blind eye to poverty. Without wishing to offend anyone, I believe that there are liars in every part of the world. Every country has or had its own liars, and it’s very good if one or another country managed to overcome lies.

The scourge of man is imaginary knowledge. This is why the Christian religion so persistently preaches to us ignorance, which is the best basis for faith and obedience.

People, when they suffer, are usually submissive; but if once they managed to throw off their burden, then the lamb turns into a tiger: the oppressed becomes the oppressor and pays a hundredfold - and then woe to the vanquished!..

Pawns, they are the same everywhere: stupid, helpful, lose their heads when they lose their queen.

Before you argue with the authorities, at least pretend to be at least some kind of humility.

For the king to forgive me.

I taught Varvara Gulyaeva so that she could delve into everything, think about everything independently. I wanted her to become a person with a broad outlook, with a conscious faith in the future. And you, perhaps, it was during these war years that you managed to impose your faith on her - blind faith, in which you don’t need to think, you don’t need to reason. The world for her became dark and incomprehensible. We won the war - why should she, Varvara, analyze, why puzzle over questions, why and why - just God's grace. Since the war, it has become more difficult to live on the Gumnishchi collective farm. How to fix the situation? Again, one answer: that's God's will. And so in everything and everywhere - mental blindness. And from blindness, from the unknown, a purely animal fear of life appears. Fear of God's wrath, fear of superiors, fear of rain at the wrong time, fear of a cat crossing the road. And then you hammer in: be patient, for everything is from God, be submissive. Submission, a lazy mind and fear - this is quite enough to make a spiritual slave out of a person. Whether you wanted it or not, you created spiritually poor people, moral freaks in our time. Thank you for your small benefit, but know that we also appreciated the harm.

Grief makes us vulnerable and defenseless, anyone can offend us. Why is it said that grief makes a person wise and steadfast? Not true. Grief teaches to humiliation and humility.

- You are looking for an angel, but there are no angels among men. No. Yes, and we, the women, are not saints. I'll tell you what, Catherine. I do not respect humility. <...> But we live, God forbid everyone. A man is a ruff - it doesn't matter, there would be a man. A kind word will always reach the heart. You do not skimp on a kind word.

She raised her sweet, ugly face to him. There was a touching and almost sensuous submissiveness in him that spurred an underlying desire to hurt her, to make her feel ashamed. “When I see her,” said Daniel, “I understand sadists.”

We must follow the century with humility.

Humility means acceptance. But how can one accept falsehood, hypocrisy, suffering, disorder, this very humility? Since evil reigns in the world, the calling of art to reflect it with ruthless frankness, to comprehend its essence.

Justice is a phantom. The fight against evil and vice is hopeless. The destiny of man is self-denial and obedience to divine providence. Earthly existence is vain and illusurous; as for mortals, nothing can be certain except that they are mortal.

It was the absurd obedience of the crowd that made and still makes possible the existence of wars ...