#i am a simple gay man who sees pretty men and loses all sensibility

[bisexualrogers]

Hello! I was reading the part of War and Peace that Great Comet was based on and decided to make a list of all the phrases/sentences in the novel that I found while listening along to the cast recording while reading that are either directly put into the lyrics of the musical, or are heavily referenced with a few changes. I have separated these findings by song, not in the order of which they appear in the novel. For some of the lines that are less directly from the novel I have put the lyrics that are connected to them in parentheses and italics next to the book quotes. It’s really really really fun to see which lyrics have a match so I hope you enjoy!

 Also sorry for any formatting issues: in some songs there are huge chunks that are almost directly lifted from the book so some placement of bullet points might be wonky. And if you know of any that I missed, please reblog and add! 

Pierre:

·           “Zest of such a life vanished”

·           “Only the skeleton of life remained”

·           “His purse was always empty because it was open to everyone.”

·           “He is charming; he has no sex.”

·           “Hundreds good-humoredly ending their days in Moscow” (“Just one of a hundred sad old men living out their final days in Moscow”)

·           “They were empty, stupid, contented fellows, satisfied with their position”

·           “Pity his comrades in destiny, as he pitied himself” (I pity you, I pity me, I pity you)

·           “Believing in the possibility of goodness and truth”

 Moscow:

·           “Faded and fading princesses still lived”

·           “She played a game of boston”

·           “A new book read to her while she knitted.”

·           “Get the samovar ready!”

·           “Whose cheeks were glowing from the cold”

·           “Touching her goddaughter and favorite, Natásha, on the cheek”

·           “I would simply embrace him, cling to him”

·           “She loved and knew Prince Andrey, he loved her only, and was to come one of these days and take her. She wanted nothing more.”

·           “You know that old Prince Nicholas much dislikes his son’s marrying. The old fellow’s crotchety! Of course Prince Andrey is not a child and can shift without him, but it’s not nice to enter a family against a father’s will. One wants to do it peacefully and lovingly. You’re a clever girl and you’ll know how to manage. Be kind, and use your wits. Then all will be well.”

 Private and Intimate Life of the House:

·           “Old-fashioned coat and powdered wig”

·           “Letting his napkin drop”

·           “Besides the couple of hours during which they saw their host, there were also twenty-two hours in the day during which the private and intimate life of the house continued.”

·           “Everybody always has liked me”

·           “He is old and feeble, and I dare to condemn him.”

 Natasha and Bolkonskys:

·           “From the first glance Princess Mary did not like Natásha. She thought her too fashionably dressed, frivolously gay and vain.”

·           “She was prejudiced against her by involuntary envy of her beauty, youth, and happiness,”

·           “She did not like Princess Mary, whom she thought very plain, affected, and dry”

·           “Dear Natalie,” said Princess Mary, “I want you to know that I am glad my brother has found happiness.”

·           “I think, Princess, it is not convenient to speak of that now”

 No One Else:

·           I love him alone, him, him, with that face and those eyes, with his smile, manly and yet childlike....” (“And your childlike eyes and your distant smile.”)

·           “But perhaps he’ll come today, will come immediately. Perhaps he has come and is sitting in the drawing room. Perhaps he came yesterday and I have forgotten it.” She rose, put down the guitar, and went to the drawing room.”

The Opera:

·                “Ladies sat with bare arms and shoulders, and noisy stalls brilliant with uniforms, glittered before their eyes” (“Bare arms and shoulders, brilliant uniforms, pearls and silk glittering before our eyes”)

·           “Feminine envy”

·           “Hundreds of eyes looking at her bare arms and neck”

·           “A whole crowd of memories, desires and emotions”

·           “The two remarkably pretty girls, Natásha and Sónya, with Count Rostóv who had not been seen in Moscow for a long time” (“Two remarkably pretty girls have not been seen in Moscow for many years”)

·           “Everybody knew vaguely of Natásha’s engagement”

·           “One of the best matches in Russia.”

·           “Dear me, Michael Kirílovich has grown still stouter!” remarked the count.

·           “Look at our Anna Mikháylovna—what a headdress she has on!”

·           “He stood in full view of the audience, well aware that he was attracting everyone’s attention, yet as much at ease as though he were in his own room. Around him thronged Moscow’s most brilliant young men, whom he evidently dominated”

·           “Now all the Moscow ladies are mad about him!”

·           “Much exposed plump white shoulders and neck, round which she wore a double string of large pearls, entered” (“The queen of society, beautiful, barely clothed, plump bare shoulders, and much exposed neck round which she wears a double string of pearls”)

·           “As soon as it rose everyone in the boxes and stalls became silent, and all the men, old and young, in uniform and evening dress, and all the women with gems on their bare flesh, turned their whole attention with eager curiosity to the stage”

·           “Grotesque and amazing”

·           “She could not follow the opera nor even listen to the music; she saw only the painted cardboard and the queerly dressed men and women who moved, spoke, and sang so strangely in that brilliant light.”

·           “False and unnatural that she first felt ashamed for the actors and then amused at them”

·           “And feeling the bright light that flooded the whole place and the warm air heated by the crowd, Natásha little by little began to pass into a state of intoxication”

·           “Exceptionally handsome”

·           “He moved with a restrained swagger which would have been ridiculous had he not been so good-looking”

·           “His sword and spurs slightly jingling and his handsome perfumed head held high”

·           “Second act there was scenery representing tombstones”

·           “Shades were raised over the footlights, and from horns and contrabass came deep notes while many people appeared from right and left wearing black cloaks and holding things like daggers in their hands”

 Natasha and Anatole:

·  “Anatole, who was as handsome at close quarters as at a distance, sat down beside her and told her he had long wished to have this happiness—ever since the Narýshkins’ ball in fact, at which he had had the well-remembered pleasure of seeing her”

·  “Semënova had fallen down on the stage”

·  “Sensible and simple”

·  “Boldly and naturally”

·  “Strangely and Agreeably”

·  “Nothing Formidable”

·  “His smile was most naïve, cheerful, and good-natured.”

·  “He never removed his smiling eyes from her face, her neck, and her bare arms. Natásha knew for certain that he was enraptured by her. ”

·  “Looking into his eyes she was frightened”

·  “There was not that barrier of modesty she had always felt between herself and other men”

·  “She feared he might seize her from behind by her bare arm and kiss her on the neck.”

·  “They spoke of most ordinary things, yet she felt that they were closer to one another than she had ever been to any man”

·  “At first I did not like it much, because what makes a town pleasant, ce sont les jolies femmes, isn’t that so? But now I like it very much indeed,”

·  “You’ll come to the costume tournament, Countess? Do come”

·  “You will be the prettiest there. Do come, dear countess, and give me this flower as a pledge!”

  The Duel (Note: The actual duel happened earlier in the novel before Natasha was introduced but the other lines happened within the story that we know from the musical):

·  “Though the doctors warned that with his corpulence wine was dangerous for him, he drank a great deal. He was only quite at ease when having poured several glasses of wine mechanically into his large mouth

·  “He felt a pleasant warmth in his body”

·  “He had got married two years before—a fact known only to his most intimate friends. A Polish landowner of small means had forced him to marry his daughter.”

·  “As a duck is so made that it must live in water, so God had made him such that he must spend thirty thousand rubles a year and always occupy a prominent position in society” (“As a duck is made to swim in water, god has made me as I am”)

·  “All he cared about was gaiety and women”

·  “The attractions of her arms, shoulders, feet, and hair and expressed his intention of making love to her.”

·  “She’s first-rate, my dear fellow, but not for us” (“She’s first rate, but nothing but trouble.”)

·  “You’d better wait till she’s married....”

·  “Here’s to the health of lovely women, Peterkin—and their lovers” (Here’s to the health of married woman and their lovers)

·  “Oh yes, it is horribly stupid”

·  “Only tell me where to go and where to shoot”

·  “As the adversaries have refused a reconciliation, please proceed. Take your pistols, and at the word three begin to advance”

·  “Missed!” shouted Dólokhov, and he lay helplessly, face downwards on the snow.”

·  “My mother! My mother, my angel, my adored angel mother.”

 Charming:

·  “She heard in the drawing room the animated sounds of her father’s voice and another’s—a woman’s—that made her flush. It was Hélène.”

·  “How is it you’re not ashamed to bury such pearls in the country?” (It’s such a shame to bury pearls in the country.”)

·  “Oh, my enchantress”

·  “This is really beyond anything”

·  “How can you live in Moscow and go nowhere”

·  “Metallic gauze”

·  “Anything suits you, my charmer”

·  “Natásha brightened up and felt almost in love with this woman, who was so beautiful and so kind.”

·  “The idea of throwing her brother and Natásha together amused her.”

·  “My brother dined with me yesterday”

·  “He is madly, quite madly, in love with you, my dear”

·  “How she blushes, how she blushes, my pretty!”

·  “You love somebody, my charmer, that is not a reason to shut yourself up. Even if you are engaged.”

·  What had seemed terrible now seemed simple and natural.”

·  “So she knows I am engaged, and she and her husband Pierre—that good Pierre—have talked and laughed about this. So it’s all right”

 The Ball:

·  “You know, I adore little girls, they lose their heads at once.”

·  “Vanity at his admiration of her and fear at the absence of a moral barrier between them.” (I am seized by feelings of vanity and fear, there is no barrier between us.)

·  “Divine! Delicious!”

·      “She only felt herself again completely borne away into this strange senseless world—so remote from her old world—a world in which it was impossible to know what was good or bad, reasonable or senseless.” (I’m borne away to a senseless world, so strange so remote. I don’t know good from bad.”)

·  “You are enchanting.”

·      “As they danced he pressed her waist and hand and told her she was bewitching and that he loved her. During the écossaise, which she also danced with him, Anatole said nothing when they happened to be by themselves, but merely gazed at her. Natásha lifted her frightened eyes to him, but there was such confident tenderness in his affectionate look and smile that she could not, whilst looking at him, say what she had to say.” (“And during the ecossaise he gazed in my eyes, my frightened eyes. Such confident tenderness I could not say what I had to say.”)

·  “Don’t say such things to me. I am betrothed and love another.”

·  “’Don’t speak to me of that! What can I do?” said he. “I tell you I am madly, madly, in love with you! Is it my fault that you are enchanting?”

·  “She understood hardly anything that went on that evening.” (“I don’t understand anything tonight.”)

·  “Is it possible that I shall never see you? I love you madly. Can I never…”

·  “I don’t understand. I have nothing to say.”

·  “Burning lips were pressed to hers.”

·  “But she also loved Anatole, of that there was no doubt. How else how could all this have happened.”

·  “It means that I loved him from the first. It means that he is kind, noble, and splendid, and I could not help loving him.”

 Letters:

·  “Only not to see it, that dreadful it!”

·  “’What am I to do if I love him and the other one too?’ She asked herself, unable to find an answer to these terrible questions.”

·  “He is an invalid and an old man who must be forgiven.” (He’s a tired old man and must be forgiven.”)

·  “Princess Mary went on to ask Natásha to fix a time when she could see her again.” (“Please come see us again.”)

·  “A letter from him—from the man she loved”

·  “But that if she loved him she need only say the word yes” (“If you love me say yes.”)

·  “He would steal her away and carry her off to the ends of the earth.” (“I will come and steal you away, steal you out of the dark.”)

·  “Yes, she loved him, or else how could that have happened which had happened? And how could she have a love letter from him in her hand?”

  Natasha and Sonya:

·  “How was it I noticed nothing? How could it go so far?”

·  “But it can’t be that she loves him!”

·  “And with the decision and tenderness that often come at the moment of awakening, she embraced her friend, but noticing Sónya’s look of embarrassment, her own face expressed confusion and suspicion.”

·  “Sonya, you’ve read that letter.”

·  “I can’t hide it from you any longer. You know, we love one another! Sónya, darling, he writes...”

·  “And Bolkónski?” she asked. “Ah, Sónya, if you only knew how happy I am!” cried Natásha. “You don’t know what love is....”

·  “But, Natásha, can that be all over.”

·  “Well, then, are you refusing Prince Andrey?” said Sónya.”

·  “Oh, you don’t understand anything! Don’t talk nonsense, just listen!” said Natásha, with momentary vexation.”

·  “But I can’t believe it,” insisted Sónya. “I don’t understand. How is it you have loved a man for a whole year and suddenly... Why, you have only seen him three times! Natásha, I don’t believe you, you’re joking.”

·  “Three days?” said Natásha. “It seems to me I’ve loved him a hundred years. It seems to me that I have never loved anyone before.”

·  “What can I do? What can I do, Sónya?” cried Natásha with a happy yet frightened expression.”

·  “Why can’t you understand? I love him!”

·  “Then I won’t let it come to that... I shall tell!” cried Sónya, bursting into tears.”

·  “What do you mean? For God’s sake... If you tell, you are my enemy!” declared Natásha. “You want me to be miserable, you want us to be separated....”

·  “But what has happened between you?” she asked. “What has he said to you? Why doesn’t he come to the house?”

·  “But why this secrecy?”

·  “I don’t know what the reasons are. But there must be reasons.”

·  “Sónya, one can’t doubt him! One can’t, one can’t! Don’t you understand?” she cried.”

·  “Does he love you?”

·  “Does he love me?” Natásha repeated with a smile of pity at her friend’s lack of comprehension. “Why, you have read his letter and you have seen him.”

·  “But you haven’t refused Bolkónski?” said she.

·  “Perhaps I have. Perhaps all is over between me and Bolkónski. Why do you think so badly of me.”

·  “Natásha, I am afraid for you!”

·  “I am afraid you’re going to your ruin,” said Sónya resolutely, and was herself horrified at what she had said.”

·  “And I’ll go to my ruin, I will, as soon as possible! It’s not your business! It won’t be you, but I, who’ll suffer. Leave me alone, leave me alone! I hate you! I hate you, I hate you! You’re my enemy forever!”

·  “Natásha went to the table and without a moment’s reflection wrote that answer to Princess Mary which she had been unable to write all the morning”

·  “All their misunderstandings were at an end”

·  “Forget everything and forgive her if she had been to blame toward her, but that she could not be his wife”

 Preparations:

·  “Yes, indeed, that’s a true sage,” thought Pierre. “He sees nothing beyond the pleasure of the moment, nothing troubles him and so he is always cheerful, satisfied, and serene. What wouldn’t I give to be like him!” he thought enviously.”

·  “The plan for Natalie Rostóva’s abduction had been arranged and the preparations made by Dólokhov a few days before, and on the day that Sónya, after listening at Natásha’s door, resolved to safeguard her, it was to have been put into execution”

·  “Natásha had promised to come out to Kurágin at the back porch at ten that evening”

·  “Kurágin was to put her into a troyka he would have ready and to drive her forty miles to the village of Kámenka, where an unfrocked priest was in readiness to perform a marriage ceremony over them. ”

·  “Anatole had a passport, an order for post horses, ten thousand rubles he had taken from his sister and another ten thousand borrowed with Dólokhov’s help.”

·  “Anatole, with uniform unbuttoned, walked to and fro”

·  “Do you know? You’d really better drop it all. There’s still time!”

·  “Fool,” retorted Anatole. “Don’t talk nonsense.”

·  “Go to the devil! Eh?” said Anatole, making a grimace. “Really it’s no time for your stupid jokes.”

·  “Why should I joke about it? Did I hinder you? Who arranged everything for you? Who found the priest and got the passport? Who raised the money? I did it all.”

·  “Well, thank you for it. Do you think I am not grateful?”

·  “Oh, nonsense, nonsense!” Anatole ejaculated and again made a grimace. “Didn’t I explain to you? What?” And Anatole, with the partiality dull-witted people have for any conclusion they have reached by their own reasoning, repeated the argument he had already put to Dólokhov a hundred times.”

·  “Abroad no one will know anything about it.”

·  “It’s the very devil! What? Feel how it beats!”

·  “Now then! Nearly ready? You’re dawdling!”

·  “Handsome lips muttered tenderly to himself.”

·  “Balagá is here.”

 Balaga:

·  “Drunk on champagne and Madeira, which he loved”

 The Abduction:

·  “Well, comrades and friends of my youth, we’ve had our fling and lived and reveled. Eh? And now, when shall we meet again? I am going abroad”

·  “My revels here are over. Remember me to Stëshka.”

·  “Shut the door; we have first to sit down. That’s the way.”

·  “Where’s the fur cloak?”

·  “I have heard what elopements are like,” continued Dólokhov with a wink. “Why, she’ll rush out more dead than alive just in the things she is wearing; if you delay at all there’ll be tears and ‘Papa’ and ‘Mamma,’ and she’s frozen in a minute and must go back—but you wrap the fur cloak round her first thing and carry her to the sleigh.”

·  “When they reached the gate Dólokhov whistled. The whistle was answered, and a maidservant ran out.”

·  “Come into the courtyard or you’ll be seen; she’ll come out directly,” said she.”

·  “Dólokhov stayed by the gate. Anatole followed the maid into the courtyard, turned the corner, and ran up into the porch.”

·  “Kurágin! Come back!” shouted Dólokhov. “Betrayed! Back!”

 In My House:

·  “You shameless good-for-nothing!”

·  “In my house... horrid girl, hussy!”

·  “A nice girl! Very nice.”

·  “You listen when I speak to you!”

·  “Natásha did not change her position, but her whole body heaved with noiseless, convulsive sobs.”

·  “It’s lucky for him that he escaped me; but I’ll find him!” she said in her rough voice. “Do you hear what I am saying or not?” she added.”

·  “Let me be!... What is it to me?... I shall die!”

·  “I have no betrothed: I have refused him!”

·  “Your father, I know him... if he challenges him to a duel will that be all right? Eh?”

·  “Were you kept under lock and key?”

·  “Why carry you off as if you were some gypsy singing girl?... Well, if he had carried you off... do you think they wouldn’t have found him? Your father, or brother, or your betrothed? And he’s a scoundrel, a wretch—that’s a fact!”

·  “He is better than any of you!” exclaimed Natásha getting up. “If you hadn’t interfered... Oh, my God! What is it all? What is it? Sónya, why?... Go away!”

·  “Márya Dmítrievna was to speak again but Natásha cried out: ‘Go away! Go away! You all hate and despise me!’ and she threw herself back on the sofa.”

·  “Márya Dmítrievna put a pillow under her head, covered her with two quilts, and herself brought her some lime-flower water, but Natásha did not respond to her.”

·  “Well, let her sleep,” said Márya.”

·  “But Natásha was not asleep; with pale face and fixed wide-open eyes.”

·  “All that night she did not sleep or weep.”

·  “She sat at the window.”

 A Call to Pierre:

·  “When he returned to Moscow Pierre was handed a letter from Márya Dmítrievna asking him to come and see her on a matter of great importance relating to Andrey Bolkónski and his betrothed.”

·  “What can they want with me?”

·  “He was not the only man unfortunate enough to be tied to a bad woman.”

·  “She therefore asked Pierre to tell his brother-in-law in her name to leave Moscow and not dare to let her set eyes on him again.”

 Find Anatole:

·  “He drove through the town seeking Anatole Kurágin, at the thought of whom now the blood rushed to his heart and he felt a difficulty in breathing.”

·  “He was not at the ice hills, nor at the gypsies’, nor at Komoneno’s.”

·  “In the Club all was going on as usual.”

·  “Natásha looked from one to the other as a hunted and wounded animal looks at the approaching dogs and sportsmen.”

·  “Ah, Pierre,” said the countess going up to her husband. “You don’t know what a plight our Anatole...”

·  “At that moment she was more repulsive to him than ever.”

·  “Anatole followed him with his usual jaunty step but his face betrayed anxiety.”

·  “Pierre closed the door and addressed Anatole without looking at him.”

 Pierre and Anatole:

·  “You promised Countess Rostóva to marry her and were about to elope with her, is that so?”

·  “Mon cher,” answered Anatole (their whole conversation was in French), “I don’t consider myself bound to answer questions put to me in that tone.”

·  “Pierre’s face, already pale, became distorted by fury. He seized Anatole by the collar of his uniform with his big hand and shook him from side to side till Anatole’s face showed a sufficient degree of terror.”

·  “When I tell you that I must talk to you!...” repeated Pierre.”

·  “Come now, this is stupid.”

·  “You’re a scoundrel and a blackguard, and I don’t know what deprives me from the pleasure of smashing your head with this!” said Pierre, expressing himself so artificially.”

·  “Did you promise to marry her?”

·  “’I... I didn’t think of it. I never promised, because...’ Pierre interrupted him.

·  ‘Have you any letters of hers? Any letters?’ he said, moving toward Anatole.”

·  “I shan’t be violent, don’t be afraid!” said Pierre in answer to a frightened gesture of Anatole’s. “First, the letters,” said he, as if repeating a lesson to himself. “Secondly,” he continued after a short pause, again rising and again pacing the room, “tomorrow you must get out of Moscow.”

·  “But how can I?...”

·  “Thirdly,” Pierre continued without listening to him, “you must never breathe a word of what has passed between you and Countess Rostóva. I know I can’t prevent your doing so, but if you have a spark of conscience...” Pierre paced the room several times in silence. Anatole sat at a table frowning and biting his lips.”

·  “After all, you must understand that besides your pleasure there is such a thing as other people’s happiness and peace, and that you are ruining a whole life for the sake of amusing yourself! Amuse yourself with women like my wife—with them you are within your rights, for they know what you want of them. They are armed against you by the same experience of debauchery; but to promise a maid to marry her... to deceive, to kidnap.... Don’t you understand that it is as mean as beating an old man or a child?...”

·  “I don’t know about that, eh?” said Anatole, growing more confident as Pierre mastered his wrath. “I don’t know that and don’t want to,” he said, not looking at Pierre and with a slight tremor of his lower jaw, “but you have used such words to me—‘mean’ and so on—which as a man of honor I can’t allow anyone to use.”

·  “Is it satisfaction you want?” said Pierre ironically.”

·  “You could at least take back your words. What? If you want me to do as you wish, eh?”

·  “I take them back, I take them back!” said Pierre, “and I ask you to forgive me.” Pierre involuntarily glanced at the loose button. “And if you require money for your journey...”

·  “Anatole smiled. The expression of that base and cringing smile, which Pierre knew so well in his wife, revolted him.”

·  “Oh, vile and heartless brood!” he exclaimed, and left the room.”

·  Next day Anatole left for Petersburg.”

  Natasha Very Ill:

·  “The whole house was in a state of alarm and commotion. Natásha was very ill, having, as Márya Dmítrievna told him in secret, poisoned herself the night after she had been told that Anatole was married, with some arsenic she had stealthily procured”

·  “She woke Sónya and told her what she had done”

·  “She was now out of danger, though still so weak”

·  “He was awaiting Prince Andrey’s return with dread”

   Pierre and Andrey:

·  “Prince Andrey, greatly changed and plainly in better health, but with a fresh horizontal wrinkle between his brows…”

·  “Well, how are you? Still getting stouter?”

·  “Forgive me for troubling you, I have received a refusal from Countess Rostóva and have heard reports of your brother-in-law having sought her hand, or something of that kind. Is that true?”

·  “Here are her letters and her portrait,” said he. He took the packet from the table and handed it to Pierre. “Give this to the countess... if you see her.”

·  “I much regret her illness,” said Prince Andrey; and he smiled like his father, coldly, maliciously, and unpleasantly.”

·  “Well, it doesn’t matter,” said Prince Andrey”

·  “Yes,” returned Prince Andrey hastily. “I said that a fallen woman should be forgiven, but I didn’t say I could forgive her. I can’t. Yes, ask her hand again, be magnanimous, and so on? Yes, that would be very noble, but I am unable to follow in that gentleman’s footsteps. If you wish to be my friend never speak to me of that... of all that! Well, good-by.”

 Pierre and Natasha:

·  “Natásha was standing in the middle of the drawing room, emaciated, with a pale set face, but not at all shamefaced as Pierre expected to find her. When he appeared at the door she grew flurried, evidently undecided whether to go to meet him or to wait till he came up. Pierre hastened to her. He thought she would give him her hand as usual; but she, stepping up to him, stopped, breathing heavily, her arms hanging lifelessly just in the pose she used to stand in when she went to the middle of the ballroom to sing, but with quite a different expression of face.”

·  “Peter Kirílovich,” she began rapidly, “Prince Bolkónski was your friend—is your friend,” she corrected herself. (It seemed to her that everything that had once been must now be different.) “He told me once to apply to you...” Pierre sniffed as he looked at her, but did not speak. Till then he had reproached her in his heart and tried to despise her, but he now felt so sorry for her that there was no room in his soul for reproach”

·  “He is here now: tell him... to for... forgive me!” She stopped and breathed still more quickly, but did not shed tears. “Yes... I will tell him,” answered Pierre; “but...” He did not know what to say.”

·  “No, I know all is over,” she said hurriedly. “No, that can never be. I’m only tormented by the wrong I have done him. Tell him only that I beg him to forgive, forgive, forgive me for everything....”

·  “I will tell him, I will tell him everything once more,” said Pierre. “But... I should like to know one thing....”

·  “Know what?” Natásha’s eyes asked.”

·  “I should like to know, did you love...” Pierre did not know how to refer to Anatole and flushed at the thought of him—“did you love that bad man?”

·  “Don’t call him bad!” said Natásha. “But I don’t know, don’t know at all....” She began to cry and a still greater sense of pity, tenderness, and love welled up in Pierre. He felt the tears trickle under his spectacles and hoped they would not be noticed.

·  “We won’t speak of it any more, my dear,” said Pierre, and his gentle, cordial tone suddenly seemed very strange to Natásha. “We won’t speak of it, my dear—I’ll tell him everything; but one thing I beg of you, consider me your friend and if you want help, advice, or simply to open your heart to someone—not now, but when your mind is clearer think of me!” He took her hand and kissed it. “I shall be happy if it’s in my power...” Pierre grew confused.

·  “Don’t speak to me like that. I am not worth it!” exclaimed Natásha and turned to leave the room, but Pierre held her hand. He knew he had something more to say to her. But when he said it he was amazed at his own words.

·  “Stop, stop! You have your whole life before you,” said he to her.

·  “Before me? No! All is over for me,” she replied with shame and self-abasement.

·  “All over?” he repeated. “If I were not myself, but the handsomest, cleverest, and best man in the world, and were free, I would this moment ask on my knees for your hand and your love!” For the first time for many days Natásha wept tears of gratitude and tenderness, and glancing at Pierre she went out of the room. Pierre too when she had gone almost ran into the anteroom, restraining tears of tenderness and joy that choked him, and without finding the sleeves of his fur cloak threw it on and got into his sleigh.”

   The Great Comet of 1812:

·  “Where to?” Pierre asked himself. “Where can I go now? Surely not to the Club or to pay calls?” All men seemed so pitiful, so poor, in comparison with this feeling of tenderness and love he experienced: in comparison with that softened, grateful, last look she had given him through her tears.”

·  “Home!” said Pierre, and despite twenty-two degrees of frost Fahrenheit he threw open the bearskin cloak from his broad chest and inhaled the air with joy.”

·  “It was clear and frosty. Above the dirty, ill-lit streets, above the black roofs, stretched the dark starry sky.”

·  “Almost in the center of it, above the Prechístenka Boulevard, surrounded and sprinkled on all sides by stars shone the enormous and brilliant comet of 1812—the comet which was said to portend all kinds of woes and the end of the world. In Pierre, however, that comet with its long luminous tail aroused no feeling of fear.

·  On the contrary he gazed joyfully, his eyes moist with tears, at this bright comet which, having traveled in its orbit with inconceivable velocity through immeasurable space, seemed suddenly—like an arrow piercing the earth—to remain fixed in a chosen spot, vigorously holding its tail erect, shining and displaying its white light amid countless other scintillating stars.

·  It seemed to Pierre that this comet fully responded to what was passing in his own softened and uplifted soul, now blossoming into a new life.”