“Know thyself first” insisted Socrates. “Be thyself first” insists this Saunterer. I am thinking of one of the many admirable qualities of dogs, cats, pigs, beavers, horses, all of them: they are as they sincerely are, and we can learn from that. Hear Marie Konstantinovna Bashkirtseff:
Ah, when one thinks what a miserable creature man is! Every other animal can, at his will, wear on his face the expression he pleases. He is not obligated to smile if he has a mind to weep. When he does not wish to see his fellows he does not see them. While man is the slave of everything and everybody! (Quoted from p. 10 of Marie Bashkirtseff: The Journal of a Young Artist, Rahway, N. J.: W. L. Mershon & Co., 1889. )
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For a brief biography of Marie Konstantinovna Bashkirtseff, click here.
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