Sterne on digressions
Digressions, incontestably, are the sunshine, they are the life, the soul of reading.

"A History of Russian Thought" Andrzej Walicki
Off the top of your head, think of five Western philosophers. Now think of five Russian philosophers. For most general readers in the English speaking world, Russian philosophers are less known than Western ones. Unfairly, Russian philosophy has been largely overlooked by the West. Walicki’s

Correspondence #11
Whatever our literature may be, it has greater significance for us than may appear: in it and it alone, is contained the whole of our intellectual life and all the poetry of our life.Belinsky 1840sWe obtained literature by our own efforts, it is a product of our own life, and that is why we love it so much and hold it so dear, why we pin our hopes on it. Dostoevsky 1860s

Zamyatin on truth
The truths of today are the mistakes of tomorrow.

"Family Happiness" Lev Tolstoy
Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.A young woman, brought up in the country, falls in love with her neighbour, a former friend of her deceased father, a man somewhat older than her. They are married and she leaves her h