War and Peace, Vol. 1 of 3 Quotes

“There's something tragic about her expression that we see again and again here. There's a presumption of shallowness that all parties have participated in, including us as the reader - we have not looked into her inner thoughts and feelings but have taken as true that she is simply shallow and uninteresting. The depth of her expression suggests to them and to us that we did not give due credence to her humanity. We never got to hear what she may have had to say as the reader, just as the characters never listened. And now she's dead, alone, unseen and unheard.

W&P - Book 4 Chapter 9 - Lise's Death”
― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace, Vol. 1 of 3