SEARCH
0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Prev | Current Page 551 | Next

Gorky, Maksim, 1868-1936

"The Man Who Was Afraid"

How is that?
And the toilers--they are merely unfortunate--horses! Others ride
on them, they suffer and that's all. But they have their
justification before God. They will be asked: 'To what purpose
did you live?' Then they will say: 'We had no time to think of
that. We worked all our lives.' And I--what justification have I?
And all those people who give orders--how will they justify
themselves? To what purpose have they lived? It is my idea that
everybody necessarily ought to know, to know firmly what he is
living for."
He became silent, and, tossing his head up, exclaimed in a heavy
voice:
"Can it be that man is born merely to work, acquire money, build
a house, beget children and--die? No, life means something. A man
is born, he lives and dies. What for? It is necessary, by God, it
is necessary for all of us to consider what we are living for.
There is no sense in our life. No sense whatever! Then things are
not equal, that can be seen at once. Some are rich--they have
money enough for a thousand people, and they live in idleness.


Pages:
539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563