Fatima

“Boredom was only invented recently. Before no one was bored”
― Nikolai Gogol, Dead Souls

“All his feelings and all his being were shaken to their depths, and he came to know that terrible torment which, by way of a striking exception, sometimes occurs in nature, when a weak talent strains to show itself on too grand a scale and fails; that torment which gives birth to great things in a youth, but, in passing beyond the border of dream, turns into a fruitless yearning; that dreadful torment which makes a man capable of terrible evildoing. A terrible envy possessed him, an envy bordering on rage. The bile rose in him when he saw some work that bore the stamp of talent. He ground his teeth and devoured it with the eyes of a basilisk.”
― Nikolai Gogol, The Mysterious Portrait

“Your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others.”
― Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

“Happy the family man who has such a corner, but woe to the bachelor!”
― Nikolai Gogol, Dead Souls