Oh, blind force! Oh, nature! Men are alone on earth—that is what is dreadful! “Is there a man alive in the battlefield?” cries the Russian hero. I cry the same, though I am not a hero, and no one answers my cry. They say the sun gives life to the universe. The sun is rising and—look at it, is it not dead? Everything is dead and everywhere there are dead. Men are alone—around them is silence—that is the earth! “Men, love one another”—who said that? Whose commandment is that? The pendulum ticks callously, heartlessly. Two o’clock at night. Her little shoes are standing by the little bed, as though waiting for her…No, seriously, when they take her away to-morrow, what will become of me?
The Meek One, Dostoevsky
