“Nekhludoff recalled his relations with the wife of the district commander, and a flood of shameful recollections came upon him. “There is a disgusting bestiality in man,” he thought; “but when it is in a primitive state, one looks down upon and despises it, whether he is carried away with or withstands it. But when this same bestiality hides itself under a so-called aesthetic, poetic cover, and demands to be worshiped, then, deifying the beast, one gives himself up to it, without distinguishing between the good and the bad. Then it is horrible.””

— Leo Tolstoy , book Resurrection

Source: Resurrection (1899), Ch. 73

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Leo Tolstoy 456

Russian writer 1828–1910

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