Thank you, darling, for learning to play chess. It is an absolute necessity for any well organized family. (in a letter to his wife)
Alexander PushkinRead
I do not like Moscow life. You live here not as you want to live, but as old women want you to.
Interpretation
The quote expresses a dissatisfaction with societal constraints that dictate how one should live.
In this quote, Alexander Pushkin critiques the conformist nature of life in Moscow, suggesting that the desires and expectations of traditional values imposed by older generations inhibit individual freedom and personal expression. It reflects a broader sentiment about how societal norms can restrict one's authentic way of living, prompting a reflection on the tension between personal desires and external pressures.
In practice
In a discussion about societal expectations, one may quote this to highlight the importance of individual freedom.
Thank you, darling, for learning to play chess. It is an absolute necessity for any well organized family. (in a letter to his wife)
I loved you; even now I may confess, Some embers of my love their fire retain; But do not let it cause you more distress, I do not want to sadden you again. Hopeless and tongue tied, yet I loved you dearly With pangs the jealous and the timid know; So tenderly I loved you, so sincerely, I pray God grant another love you so.
I loved you: and, it may be, from my soul The former love has never gone away, But let it not recall to you my dole; I wish not sadden you in any way. I loved you silently, without hope, fully, In diffidence, in jealousy, in pain; I loved you so tenderly and truly, As let you else be loved by any man.
I have outlasted all desire, My dreams and I have grown apart; My grief alone is left entire, The gleamings of an empty heart. The storms of ruthless dispensation Have struck my flowery garland numb, I live in lonely desolation And wonder when my end will come. Thus on a naked tree-limb, blasted By tardy winter's whistling chill, A single leaf which has outlasted Its season will be trembling still.
My dreams, my dreams! What has become of their sweetness? What indeed has become of my youth?
Thus people--so it seems to me-- Become good friends from sheer ennui.
Astrology is assured of recognition from psychology, without further restrictions, because astrology represents the summation of all the psychological knowledge of antiquity.
Where we are going as a species is a big question. Human evolution certainly hasn't stopped. Every time individuals produce a new zygote, there's a reshuffling and recombination of genes. And we don't know where all of that is going to take us.
I'll tell you," said Beatty, smiling at his cards. "That made you for a little while a drunkard. Read a few lines and off you go over the cliff. Bang, you're ready to blow up the world, chop off heads, knock down women and children, destroy authority. I know. I've been through it all.
I think that there is far too much work done in the world, that immense harm is caused by the belief that work is virtuous, and that what needs to be preached in modern industrial countries is quite different from what always has been preached.
America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense human rights invented America.
The true past departs not, no truth or goodness realized by man ever dies, or can die; but all is still here, and, recognized or not, lives and works through endless change.
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