"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