Leo Tolstoy

“ For some reason or another the idea occurred to me that, just BECAUSE Dimitri stuck up so stoutly for Dubkoff, he neither liked nor respected him in reality, but was determined, out of stubbornness and a desire not to be accused of inconstancy, never to own to the fact. He was one of those people who love their friends their life long, not so much because those friends remain always dear to them, as because, having once--possibly mistakenly--liked a person, they look upon it as dishonourable to cease ever to do so. ”

“ I stood in that awe of Dubkoff which a sixteen-year-old boy naturally feels for a twenty-seven-year-old man of whom his elders say that he is a very clever young man who can dance well and speak French, and who, though secretly despising one`s youth, endeavours to conceal the fact. ”

“ I inquired of Dimitri.
"At piquet. It is a stupid game. In fact, all such games are stupid."
"And were they playing for much?"
"No, not very much, but more than they ought to."
"Do you ever play yourself?"
"No; I swore never to do so; but Dubkoff will play with any one he can get hold of."
"He ought not to do that," I remarked. "So Woloda does not play so well as he does?"
"Perhaps Dubkoff ought not to, as you say, yet there is nothing especially bad about it all. He likes playing, and plays well, but he is a good fellow all the same." ”