Page 1740 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

Chapter 16

Sergey Ivanovitch, being practiced in argument, did
not reply, but at once turned the conversation to another
aspect of the subject.
‘Oh, if you want to learn the spirit of the people by
arithmetical computation, of course it’s very difficult to
arrive at it. And voting has not been introduced among us
and cannot be introduced, for it does not express the will
of the people; but there are other ways of reaching that. It
is felt in the air, it is felt by the heart. I won’t speak of
those deep currents which are astir in the still ocean of the
people, and which are evident to every unprejudiced man;
let us look at society in the narrow sense. All the most
diverse sections of the educated public, hostile before, are
merged in one. Every division is at an end, all the public
organs say the same thing over and over again, all feel the
mighty torrent that has overtaken them and is carrying
them in one direction.’
‘Yes, all the newspapers do say the same thing,’ said the
prince. ‘That’s true. But so it is the same thing that all the
frogs croak before a storm. One can hear nothing for
them.’

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