"It goes without saying that people could not spoil life, make a good life essentially a bad life. They could only, and have, temporarily ruined the lives of the present generations, instead they have unwittingly introduced into life the element which pushes it rapidly forward. If they have done and are doing the greatest harm by the irreligious perversion of men, they also unwittingly introduce what unites men by their injurious inventions, for themselves and their generations. They corrupt people, but they corrupt everybody, Hindus, Chinese, blacks, everybody. Medieval theology or the depravity of the Romans only perverted their peoples, a small part of humanity. Now, however, electricity, railways, the telegraph, the printing press are perverting everything. All appropriate, they cannot but appropriate everything, and all suffer equally, are forced to change their lives equally, all are forced to change the most important thing in life, their understanding of it, their religion.
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Author
Leo TolstoyAll Translations
All Translations
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It goes without saying that people could not spoil life, make a good life essentially a bad life. They could only, and have, temporarily ruined the lives of the present generations, instead they have unwittingly introduced into life the element which pushes it rapidly forward. If they have done and are doing the greatest harm by the irreligious perversion of men, they also unwittingly introduce what unites men by their injurious inventions, for themselves and their generations. They corrupt people, but they corrupt everybody, Hindus, Chinese, blacks, everybody. Medieval theology or the depravity of the Romans only perverted their peoples, a small part of humanity. Now, however, electricity, railways, the telegraph, the printing press are perverting everything. All appropriate, they cannot but appropriate everything, and all suffer equally, are forced to change their lives equally, all are forced to change the most important thing in life, their understanding of it, their religion.
""Se înțelege de la sine că oamenii nu puteau să strice viața, să facă dintr-o viață bună în esență o viață rea. Puteau numai, și au și făcut-o, să strice temporar viața generațiilor actuale, în schimb au introdus fără să vrea în viața elementul care o împinge repede înainte. Dacă au făcut și fac cel mai mare rău prin pervertirea nereligioasă a oamenilor, întroduc totodată, fără să vrea, ceea ce îi unește pe oameni prin născocirile lor dăunatoare, pentru ei și generațiile lor. Îi corup pe oameni, dar îi corup pe toți, hinduși, chinezi, negri, pe toți. Teologia medievală sau depravarea romanilor au pervertit doar popoarele lor, o mică parte a omenirii. Acum însă, electricitatea, căile ferate, telegraful, tiparul pervertesc tot. Toți își însușesc, nu pot să nu-și însușească totul, iar toți suferă în mod egal, sunt nevoiți să-și schimbe viața în mod egal, toți sunt obligați să-și schimbe cel mai important lucru din viață, înțelegerea ei, religia."