Just when the question of how to live had become clearer to him, a new insoluble problem presented itself - Death.

Ivan Ilych's life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible.

One of the most obtuse superstitions is the superstition of the scientists who say that man can exist without faith.

Whenever my life came to a halt, the questions would arise: Why? And what next?

Everything I know, I know because of love.

I have nothing to make me miserable," she said, getting calmer; "but can you understand that everything has become hateful, loathsome, coarse to me, and I myself most of all? You can't imagine what loathsome thoughts I have about everything." "Why, whatever loathsome thoughts can you have?" asked Dolly, smiling. "The most utterly loathsome and coarse; I can't tell you. It's not unhappiness, or low spirits, but much worse. As though everything that was good in me was all hidden away, and nothing was left but the most loathsome.

Before we can study the central issues of life today, we must destroy the prejudices and fallacies born of previous centuries.