Fyodor Dostoevsky

“ Will my doing of it lead anyone who reads it to give me a greatcoat, or to buy me a new pair of shoes? No, Barbara. Men only read the documents, and then require me to write more. Sometimes a man will hide himself away, and not show his face abroad, for the mere reason that, though he has done nothing to be ashamed of, he dreads the gossip and slandering which are everywhere to be encountered. If his civic and family life have to do with literature, everything will be printed and read and laughed over and discussed ”

“ If I write to you overmuch concerning myself, is it concerning ANOTHER man, rather, that I ought to write--concerning HIS wants, concerning HIS lack of tea to drink (and all the world needs tea) ? Has it ever been my custom to pry into other men's mouths, to see what is being put into them? ”

“ I am not to see, forsooth, that no man does me an injury, or breaks into my home--I am not to take care that all shall go well with me, or that I have clothes to wear, or that my shoes do not require mending, or that I be given work to do, or that I possess sufficient meat and drink? ”

“ Well, since officials differ in rank, and every official demands that he shall be allowed to abuse his fellow officials in proportion to his rank, it follows that the TONE also of official abuse should become divided into ranks, and thus accord with the natural order of things. All the world is built upon the system that each one of us shall have to yield precedence to some other one, as well as to enjoy a certain power of abusing his fellows. ”