Tuesday, December 02, 2008

"No, No, he thought, the reason for what happens in our lives, all that we do, the meaning of it, is incomprehensible and must remain incomprehensible to me. Why did I have aunts? Why did Nikolenka Irtenyev die, while I am still alive? Why should there be a Katusha? What about my lunacy? Why that war? Why my reckless life afterwards? To understand all that, to understand the master's purpose is beyond me. But to do his will, inscribed in my conscience- is in my power, and this I know unquestioningly. And when I am obeying his will, there is no doubt that my soul is at peace."

Nekhlyudov in Tolstoy's Resurrection

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