George F. Kennan’s Essay on De Custine’s ‘Russia in 1839’: the Best Book about...
George F. Kennan (1904 – 2005) was an American diplomat and historian. He was best known as an advocate of a policy of containment of Soviet...
Devilish cruelty is the most striking feature of the Russian national character, – Maxim...
Maxim Gorky (1868 –1936) was a Russian and Soviet writer who was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. In 1922, Gorky published the...
Russians are semi-Asiatic, drilled, but not civilized; they resemble ‘trained bears who make you...
"Russians… tread in the steps of European elegance, without knowing that refinement of habits has no value except as it announces the existence of...
Russians hurl accusations at their victims in order to justify their own rancor; They...
"During his change of horse-relays, Turgenev asked to see Custine. There then ensued, presumably at the postal station, a most curious verbal exchange, the...
Russian ‘Czar’ title is of Oriental origin, – Marquise de Custine
"The princes who now possess this sacred asylum of oriental despotism call themselves Europeans, because they have chased the Calmucs, their brethren, their...
The Russians of our times are the worthy children of the subjects of Ivan...
"The social, intellectual, and political state of present Russia is the result, and, so to speak, the resume, of the reigns of Ivan IV.,...
Kremlin, Sacred Asylum of Oriental Despotism, Palace of Tyrant, – Marquis de Custine in...
"The Kremlin is not like any other palace, it is a city in itself; a city that forms the ioot of Moscow, and that...
Phony ‘Potemkin villages’ explain a lot about Russian mindset, – Marquis de Custine in...
"In the midst of the fetes of Petersburg, I cannot forget the journey of Empress Catherine into the Crimea, and the facades of vilages,...
Russian nation is like a slave who standing on his knees dreams of the...
This nation − at its heart conquering, greedy by dint of deprivation − atones in advance, at home, through a debasing submission, in...
‘Russians enjoy Slavery more than Freedom,’ – German Diplomat Sigismund von Herberstein in ‘Notes...
Sigismund von Herberstein (1486–1566) was a diplomat, writer, historian, and member of the Holy Roman Empire Imperial Council. He was most noted for his extensive writing on...
