By Александр Сергеевич Пушкин

If I walk the noisy streets,

Or enter a many thronged church,
Or sit among the wild young generation,
I give way to my thoughts.

I say to myself: the years are fleeting,

And however many there seem to be,
We must all go under the eternal vault,
And someone's hour is already at hand.

When I look at a solitary oak

I think: the patriarch of the woods.
It will outlive my forgotten age
As it outlived that of my grandfathers'.

If I caress a young child,

Immediately I think: farewell!
I will yield my place to you,
For I must fade while your flower blooms.

Each day, every hour

I habitually follow in my thoughts,
Trying to guess from their number
The year which brings my death.

And where will fate send death to me?

In battle, in my travels, or on the seas?
Or will the neighbouring valley
Receive my chilled ashes?

And although to the senseless body

It is indifferent wherever it rots,
Yet close to my beloved countryside
I still would prefer to rest.

And let it be, beside the grave's vault

That young life forever will be playing,
And impartial, indifferent nature
Eternally be shining in beauty.
Crime and Punishment (1866) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский

An emotionally disturbed student Rodion Raskolnikov kills and robs two women to
prove that he is one of the "chosen ones," great men like Napoleon who can take
human lives in the name of greater good. The novel is essentially a contemplation
on the nature of good and evil, and a philosophical critique of nihilism, which was
popular in the 19th century Russia (Raskolnikov's name references the word "raskol"
- dissent, opposition).
"Brother, brother, what are you saying? Why, you have shed blood?" cried Dunia in despair. "Which
all men shed," he put in almost frantically, "which flows and has always flowed in streams, which is
spilt like champagne, and for which men are crowned in the Capitol and are called afterwards
benefactors of mankind... If I had succeeded I should have been crowned with glory, but now I'm
trapped."

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky[a] (/ˌdɒstəˈjɛfski, ˌdʌs-/;[1] Russian: Фёдор Михайлович

Достоевский[b], tr. Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, IPA: [ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ dəstɐˈjɛfskʲɪj]
(About this soundlisten); 11 November 1821 – 9 February 1881[2][c]), sometimes transliterated
Dostoyevsky, was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist and philosopher.
Dostoevsky's literary works explore human psychology in the troubled political, social, and
spiritual atmospheres of 19th-century Russia, and engage with a variety of philosophical and
religious themes. His most acclaimed works include Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot
(1869), Demons (1872), and The Brothers Karamazov (1880). Dostoevsky's body of works
consists of 11 novels, three novellas, 17 short stories, and numerous other works. Many literary
critics rate him as one of the greatest psychologists in world literature.[3] His 1864 novella
Notes from Underground is considered to be one of the first works of existentialist literature.
Anna Karenina (1877) by Leo Tolstoy

Лев Николаевич Толстой

Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy[note 1] (/ˈtoʊlstɔɪ, ˈtɒl-/;[2] Russian: Лев

Николаевич Толстой,[note 2] tr. Lev Nikoláyevich Tolstóy; [lʲef nʲɪkɐˈlaɪvʲɪtɕ tɐlˈstoj]
(About this soundlisten); 9 September [O.S. 28 August] 1828 – 20 November [O.S. 7
November] 1910), usually referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian
writer who is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time.[3] He received
multiple nominations for the Nobel Prize in Literature every year from 1902 to 1906,
and nominations for Nobel Peace Prize in 1901, 1902 and 1910, and the fact that he
never won is a major Nobel prize controversy.[4][5][6][7]

"Anna Karenina" is a story of tragic love between a married woman Anna Karenina
and a young officer Count Vronsky. Spoiler alert: she dies. This remarkable novel
tackled many controversial topics of the day including adultery, atheism, Russia's
political future, and the role of women in society.

“He soon felt that the fulfillment of his desires gave him only one grain of the mountain of happiness
he had expected. This fulfillment showed him the eternal error men make in imagining that their
happiness depends on the realization of their desires.”