Ivan March

“Are they in cahoots with the Germans?4 No, that’s ridiculous. They’re fanatics, they believe in universal conflagration. But they fear everything like fire and suspect plots everywhere. And up until now they have also been in trembling for their power and for their lives. They, I repeat, never expected they would succeed in October. After Moscow had fallen, they were terribly confused. They ran over to us at New Life and begged us to be ministers, and presented us with briefcases. . . .” March 15 / 28, 1918””

“At the end of March in ’17 a soldier almost killed me on the Arbat because I had allowed myself a certain “freedom of speech” and cursed the newspaper Social Democrat9 because one of its vendors had thrust himself upon me. That scoundrel of a soldier knew perfectly well that he could do with me whatever he liked, and with complete impunity. The vendor, along with the crowd that surrounded us, immediately took the soldier’s side: “Really, comrade, are you so repulsed by a newspaper that is for the working masses?””

“L'Américain moyen consacre plus de mille six cents heures par an à sa voiture. Il y est assis, qu'elle soit en marche ou à l'arrêt ; il la gare ou cherche à le faire ; il travaille pour payer le premier versement comptant ou les traites mensuelles, l'essence, les péages, l'assurance, les impôts et les contraventions. De ses seize heures de veille chaque jour, il en donne quatre à sa voiture, qu'il l'utilise ou qu'il gagne les moyens de le faire. Ce chiffre ne comprend même pas le temps absorbé par des activités secondaires imposées par la circulation : le temps passé à l'hôpital, au tribunal ou au garage, le temps passé à étudier la publicité automobile ou à recueillir des conseils pour acheter la prochaine fois une meilleure bagnole.””