Leo Tolstoy

“ I am asking that the diary of my unmarried life be destroyed not because I wish to hide from men the record of an evil life - mine was the ordinary, miserable life of all young people without principle - but because this diary, wherein I have set down only the things that tormented me - consciousness of sin - gives a false and one-sided impression. ”

“ I ask that I be interred wherever I die, in the least expensive cemetery, if it is in a town, and in the simplest sort of coffin, like the coffin of a pauper. No flowers, no wreaths, no speeches. If possible, no clergy or mass. ”

“ Otherwise my diary is to remain as it stands. At least, one may see from it that, despite the vulgarity and ignominy of my youth, I was not abandoned by God, and that, as I grew towards old age, I began to understand Him a little and love Him. I am writing all this not because I attribute a more or less great importance to my papers, but because I know already that, immediately aftermy death, my works will be printed and discussed, and that importance will be attributed to them. And, this being so, then at least my works shall not be such as to harm men. ”