What of it? If I die, I die. It will be no great loss to the world, and I am thoroughly bored with life. I am like a man yawning at a ball; the only reason he does not go home to bed is that his carriage has not arrived yet.
Mikhail LermontovRead
I was lying, but I wanted to rouse him. I have an inborn urge to contradict; my whole life has been a mere chain of sad and futile opposition to the dictates of either heart or reason. The presence of an enthusiast makes me as cold as a midwinter's day, and, I believe, frequent association with a listless phlegmatic would make me an impassioned dreamer.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The speaker reflects on their tendency to oppose feelings and reason, suggesting a struggle between passion and indifference.
This quote reveals the internal conflict of the speaker, who feels an innate compulsion to oppose the norms dictated by emotions and logic. They describe how the enthusiasm of others can leave them feeling unresponsive, while the presence of indifference may evoke in them a longing for passion. It highlights the complexity of human emotions and the paradox of desire and resistance in personal relationships.
Themes
OppositionPassionIndifferenceEmotionConflict
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared during a philosophy discussion about the nature of human emotions.
More from Mikhail Lermontov
All quotes →I was modest--they accused me of being crafty: I became secretive. I felt deeply good and evil--nobody caressed me, everybody offended me: I became rancorous. I was gloomy--other children were merry and talkative. I felt myself superior to them--but was considered inferior: I became envious. I was ready to love the whole world--none understood me: and I learned to hate.
Mikhail LermontovRead
Anyone who has chanced like me to roam through desolate mountains and studied at length their fantastic shapes and drunk the invigorating air of their valleys can understand why I wish to describe and depict these magic scenes for others.
Mikhail LermontovRead
When we retire from the conventions of society and draw close to nature, we involuntarily become children: each attribute acquired by experience falls away from the soul, which becomes anew such as it was once and will surely be again.
Mikhail LermontovRead
I love enemies, though not in the Christian way. They amuse me, excite my blood. Being always on one’s guard, catching every glance, the significance of every word, guessing at intentions, frustrating their plots, pretending to be tricked, and suddenly, with a shove, upturning the whole enormous and arduously built edifice of their cunning and schemes—that’s what I call life.
Mikhail LermontovRead
Afraid of decision, I buried my finer feelings in the depths of my heart and they died there.
Mikhail LermontovRead
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