zoe olesker’s Reviews > Notes from Underground > Status Update

“she had light brown eyes, beautiful eyes, alive, capable of reflecting both love and sullen hatred. […]
poor little thing, she […] had run to fetch her only treasure, not wishing me to leave without knowing that she, too, was loved honestly and sincerely, that she, too, was spoken to respectfully. […]
i said nothing, pressed her had, and walked out.”

“i lived — but saw nothing of life, my life was used up”

“i had indeed become excited towards the end of my speech, and now my vanity somehow suffered”

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“he would make his fate hers”

“isn’t this the whole of happiness, when they’re all there together, husband, wife, and child? a lot can be forgiven for those moments”

“one need only love and have courage”

“man only likes counting his grief, he doesn’t count his happiness”

“in those cursed families where there is neither God nor love”

“i hated them terribly, though i was perhaps worse than they were. they paid me back in kind and did not conceal their loathing for me. but i no longer had any wish for their love; on the contrary, i constantly thirsted for their humiliation.”