" He was only speaking from confused memory of old slanders. But as soon as he had uttered his foolish tirade, he felt he had been talking absurd nonsense, and at once longed to prove to his audience, and above all to himself, that he had not been talking nonsense. And, though he knew perfectly well that with each word he would be adding more and more absurdity, he could not restrain himself, and plunged forward blindly. "

― Fyodor Dostoevsky , Works of Fyodor Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Brothers Karamazov, The Gambler, The Devils, The Adolescent & more