"You know, I don't understand
how you can pass by a
tree and not
be happy to see it? To talk
to someone and not be happy to
love them! Oh, I just can't
express it... and how many
beautiful things are there
at every turn, things that even
the most lost person finds
beautiful? Look at a child, look
at God's dawn, look at the grass
as it grows, look into eyes that
look at you and love you..."
"We, Russians, are so created by
our Russian God that we can feel
the pain of others as if it were
our own. We sympathize with
Poland and give our lives for
it, we crucify ourselves for
Jewish equality, worry about Bulgaria or
volunteer for Garibaldi... And
no one is capable of so
generously, so modestly, so
selflessly and so sincerely
throwing away their lives in the
name of the illusory idea of the
happiness of the future of
humanity as we are."
~
Alexander Kuprin, 1909