Ivan Turgenev

“ It is enough to have one single human specimen in order to judge all the others. People are like trees in a forest; no botanist would think of studying each individual birch tree."
Katya, who was arranging the flowers one by one in a leisurely way, raised her eyes to Bazarov with a puzzled expression, and meeting his quick casual glance, she blushed right up to her ears. Anna Sergeyevna shook her head. ”

“ The princess frowned. Katya rose to go out . . .
"I expect tea is ready," said Madame Odintsov. "Come, gentlemen; auntie, will you go in to tea?"
The princess rose from her chair without speaking and led the way out of the drawing room. They all followed her into the dining room. A little Cossack page drew back noisily from the table a chair covered with cushions, also dedicated to the princess, who sank into it. Katya, who poured out tea, handed her first a cup decorated with a coat of arms. ”

“ Anna Sergeyevna was silent for a few moments.
"So you have no feeling whatsoever for art?" she said, leaning her elbow on the table and by so doing bringing her face nearer to Bazarov. "How do you manage without it?"
"Why, what is it needed for, may I ask?"
"Well, at least to help one to know and understand people."
Bazarov smiled. "In the first place, experience of life does that, and in the second, I assure you the study of separate individuals is not worth the trouble it involves. All people resemble each other, in soul as well as in body ”

“ Our friends were met in the hall by two tall footmen in livery; one of them ran at once to fetch the butler. The butler, a stout man in a black tail coat, promptly appeared and led the visitors up a staircase covered with rugs into a specially prepared room in which two beds had been arranged with every kind of toilet accessory. It was evident that order reigned in the house; everything was clean, and there was everywhere a peculiar dignified fragrance such as one encounters in ministerial reception rooms.
"Anna Sergeyevna asks you to come to see her in half an hour," the butler announced. ”

“ The lungs of a consumptive person are not in the same condition as yours or mine, although their construction is the same. We know more or less what causes physical ailments; but moral diseases are caused by bad education, by all the rubbish with which people's heads are stuffed from childhood onwards, in short, by the disordered state of society. ”