1
" As he spoke, he looked into their faces and saw, as though in his own features, that fundamentally they all bore the indelible impress of a similar background: army tradition; long spells of garrison service in a world isolated from the rest of society; a sense of alienation, of being despised by that society and ridiculed by liberal writers; the official ban on discussing politics and political literature, resulting in a blunting or stultifying of the intellect; a permanent shortage of money; and yet, despite it all, the knowledge that they represented, in purified and concentrated form, the vitality and courage of the whole nation. "
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn , August 1914 (The Red Wheel, #1)
7
" Praying that he and all of us may obtain God’s mercy, the Kingdom of Heaven, and the remission of all our sins, let us dedicate one another and our lives wholly unto Christ our God!” And soaring above the sky, beyond the sun, straight to the throne of the All-Highest, from the breasts of fourteen men, their voices now effortlessly blending, rose—not their petition, but their act of sacrifice, of self-abnegation. "
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn , August 1914 (The Red Wheel, #1)