Konstantin Levin Quotes

Konstantin Levin did not like talking and hearing about the beauty of nature. Words for him took away the beauty of what he saw.

Konstantin Levin did not like talking or hearing about the beauty of nature. For him words took away the beauty of what he saw.

To Konstantin Levin the country was good first because it afforded a field for labor, of the usefulness of which there could be no doubt. To Sergey Ivanovitch the country was particularly good, because there it was possible and fitting to do nothing.

Konstantin Levin regarded his brother as a man of immense intellect and culture, as generous in the highest sense of the word, and possessed of a special faculty for working for the public good. But in the depths of his heart, the older he became, and the more intimately he knew his brother, the more and more frequently the thought struck him that this faculty of working for the public good, of which he felt himself utterly devoid, was possibly not so much a quality as a lack of something — not a lack of good, honest, noble desires and tastes, but a lack of vital force, of what is called heart, of that impulse which drives a man to choose someone out of the innumerable paths of life, and to care only for that one. The better he knew his brother, the more he noticed that Sergey Ivanovitch, and many other people who worked for the public welfare, were not led by an impulse of the heart to care for the public good, but reasoned from intellectual considerations that it was a right thing to take interest in public affairs, and consequently took interest in them. Levin was confirmed in this generalization by observing that his brother did not take questions affecting the public welfare or the question of the immortality of the soul a bit more to heart than he did chess problems, or the ingenious construction of a new machine.

Konstantin Levin non amava parlare delle bellezze della natura né sentirne parlare. Le parole, secondo lui, toglievano la bellezza alle cose che vedeva.

Pracuje, chcę zrobić cokolwiek, a zapomniałem, iż wszystko skończy się, zapomniałem o śmierci.

The families of the Levins and the Shtcherbatskys were old, noble Moscow families, and had always been on intimate and friendly terms. This intimacy had grown still closer during Levin’s student days. He had both prepared for the university with the young Prince Shtcherbatsky, the brother of Kitty and Dolly, and had entered at the same time with him. In those days Levin used often to be in the Shtcherbatskys’ house, and he was in love with the Shtcherbatsky household. Strange as it may appear, it was with the household, the family, that Konstantin Levin was in love, especially with the feminine half of the household.

Levin felt himself to blame, and could not set things right. He felt that if they had both not kept up appearances, but had spoken, as it is called, from the heart—that is to say, had said only just what they were thinking and feeling—they would simply have looked into each other's faces, and Konstantin could only have said, "You're dying, you're dying!" and Nikolay could only have answered, "I know I'm dying, but I'm afraid, I'm afraid, I'm afraid!" And they could have said nothing more, if they had said only what was in their hearts. But life like that was impossible, and so Konstantin tried to do what he had been trying to do all his life, and never could learn to do, though, as far as he could observe, many people knew so well how to do it, and without it there was no living at all. He tried to say what he was not thinking, but he felt continually that it had a ring of falsehood, that his brother detected him in it, and was exasperated at it.

Kişisel yarara, çıkara dayanmayan bir eylemin sağlam olmayacağı inancındayım. Genel bir felsefe gerçeğidir bu." *** "Bunun nasıl yapılacağı sorunun ayrıntısıdır. Ortada gerçek olan bir şey varsa o da bunun yapılabileceğidir." *** "Sahi, tuhaf bir şey var burada.Eski çağların kutsal ateşi korumakla görevli Vesta rahibeleri gibi, soyumuzun süreliliğini sağlamakla görevlendirilmişiz sanki.Yalnızca bu amaçla, kendimizi düşünmeden yaşayıp gidiyor gibiyiz." *** "Bence savaş öylesine kanlı, öylesine korkunç bir şeydir ki, hiçbir insan -Hristiyan demiyorum-savaşı başlatmak sorumluluğunu üzerine alamaz.Bu sorumluluğu ancak buna zorlanan, savaş onun için kaçınılmaz olan bir devlet alabilir üzerine.Öte yandan, bilim de, sağduyu da, devlet işlerinde, özellikle savaşta yurttaşın kişisel iradesini reddederler.” *** "Hayır. Tartışamam onlarla. Hiçbir şeyin işlemediği bir zırh var onların üzerinde Bence çıplağım." (Konstantin Levin)

He felt uncomfortable and even unhappy observing his brother’s attitude to the country. For Konstantin Levin the country was a place where one encountered the stuff of life, that is to say, joy, suffering, and toil; for Sergey Ivanovich the country was on the one hand a rest from work, and on the other a pleasant antidote to dissipation, which he took with enjoyment and an awareness of its benefits. For Konstantin Levin the country was good because it was the location for unquestionably useful work; for Sergey Ivanovich what was particularly good about the country was that one could and should do nothing there.

Really, I have never considered what I am. I am Konstantin Levin, and nothing else.

Konstantin Levin regarded his brother as a man of great intelligence and education...endowed with the ability to act for the common good. But, in the depths of his soul, the older he became and the more closely he got to know his brother, the more often it occurred to him that this ability to act for the common good, of which he felt himself completely deprived, was perhaps not a virtue but...a lack of something - not a lack of good, honest and noble desires and tastes, but a lack of life force, of what is known as heart, of that yearning which makes a man choose one out of all the countless paths in life presented to him and desire that one alone.

In the discussions that arose between the brothers on their views of the peasantry, Sergey Ivanovitch always got the better of his brother, precisely because Sergey Ivanovitch had definite ideas about the peasant—his character, his qualities, and his tastes. Konstantin Levin had no definite and unalterable idea on the subject, and so in their arguments Konstantin was readily convicted of contradicting himself.