Daniel

“Manilov was pleased by these final words, but he still couldn't make sense of the deal itself, and for want of an answer, he began sucking his clay pipe so hard that it started to wheeze like a bassoon. He seemed to be trying to extract from it an opinion about this unprecedented business; but the clay pipe only wheezed and said nothing.”
― Nikolai Gogol, Dead Souls

“How often we sit weeping — you
and I — over the life we lead!
My friends, if you only knew
the darkness of the days ahead!”
― Alexander Blok, Selected Poems

“Ich bin in einer prächtigen Wohnung sogleich faul und untätig. Geringe Wohnung dagegen, wie dieses schlechte Zimmer, worin wir sind, ein wenig unordentlich ordentlich, ein wenig zigeunerhaft, ist für mich das Rechte; es lässt meiner inneren Natur volle Freiheit, tätig zu sein und aus mir selbst zu schaffen.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Conversations with Eckermann, 1823-1832

“Many a calm river begins as a turbulent waterfall, yet none hurtles and foams all the way to the sea.”
― Mikhail Lermontov