It sometimes happened that you might be familiar with a man for several years thinking he was a wild animal, and you would regard him with contempt. And then suddenly a moment would arrive when some uncontrollable impulse would lay his soul bare, and you would behold in it such riches, such sensitivity and warmth, such a vivid awareness of its own suffering and the suffering of others, that the scales would fall from your eyes and at first you would hardly be able to believe what you had seen and heard. The reverse also happens.
Fyodor DostoevskyBesides, nowadays, almost all capable people are terribly afraid of being ridiculous, and are miserable because of it.
Fyodor DostoevskyEverywhere I am the object of an unbelievable esteem, the interest in me is, quite simply, tremendous.
Fyodor Dostoevsky