Monthly Archives: April 2012

Bazarov

“This capacity consciously to behave stupidly is an enviable virtue of strong and intelligent people. A dispassionate and dried-up person always acts according to logical calculations; a timid and weak person tries to deceive himself with sophistry and assure himself of the rightness of his desires and actions; but Bazarov has no need for such trickery; he says to himself straightforwardly: “This is stupid, but nevertheless, I will do what I want, and I do not want to torment myself over it. When it becomes necessary I will have the time and strength to do what I must.” A wholehearted, strong nature is manifested in this capacity to become completely carried away: A healthy, incorruptible mind is expressed in this capability to recognize as folly the passion which has consumed the whole organism.”

— Dmitri Pisarev, Bazarov