Steph Stuff

No, to be beloved is a misfortune. It is a misfortune to feel guilty because you do not give something you cannot give. O my God! If it all happened reasonably, and not all topsy-turvy - not in our way but in a way of its own! Why, it’s as if I had stolen that love! You think so too, don’t deny it. You must think so. But will you believe it, of all the horrid and stupid things that I have found time to do in my life - and there are many - this is one I do not and cannot repent of. Neither at the beginning nor afterwards did I lie to myself or to her. It seemed to me that I had at last fallen in love, but then I saw that it was an involuntary falsehood, and that was not the way to love, and I could not go on, but she did. Am I to blame that I couldn’t? What was I to do?

—Leo Tolstoy (via atomos)