should understand that of all the aims worthy of man, whether it be the service of humanity, of one's country, of science or of art (not to speak of the service of God) -whatever it be, not one is attained by union with the object of one's love, either with marriage or without; on the contrary, that falling in love, and union with the object of one's love never facilitates, but always impedes the attainment of any aim worthy of man (however verse or prose may seek to prove the opposite).
This in the fifth place.
That is the substance of what I wished to say, and thought I had expressed in my story; and it seemed to me that though one might argue about the means of rectifying the evil pointed out by these considerations, it was quite impossible not to agree with the considerations themselves.
It appeared impossible not to agree -firstly, because these considerations are entirely in accordance with the progress of humanity -which is always advancing from dissoluteness to greater and greater purity -with the moral consciousness of society, and with one's own conscience, which always condemns indulgence and appreciates chastity[1], and, secondly, because these considerations are merely inevitable deductions from the Gospel teaching which we either profess, or at least recognize, though unconsciously, as the basis of our ideas of morality.
But it turned out I was wrong.
- ↑ The original Russian word, here translated "chastity" for want of a nearer equivalent, implies complete abstinence from sexual intercourse, and in this sense the English word should be understood.
-Trans.
