Dead Souls

by Nikolai Gogol

mortal man is a creature whose nature is very hard to understand: however squalid the piece of news, as long as it is news, one mortal will be bound to pass it on to another mortal, if only to say, “Look what lies they are circulating!,” and another mortal will happily allow his ear to be bent, even though he will go on to say himself, “Yes, that is an utterly despicable lie which deserves no credit at all,” and will immediately go off to find a third mortal so as to tell him and exclaim in unison with noble indignation, “What a vile lie!” And so it is bound to circulate around the whole town and all mortals, however many there may be, will sate themselves with talk and then admit that it is not worthy of attention or even mention.