"And you have the right to arrange your own life under the blue sky and the hot sun, to get a drink of water, to stretch, to travel wherever you like without a convoy. So what's this about unwiped feet? And what's this about a mother-in-law? What about the main thing in life, all its riddles? ... Do not pursue what is illusory-property and position: all that is gained at the expense of your nerves decade after decade ... Live with a steady superiority over life-don't be afraid of misfortune, and do not yearn after happiness; it is, after all, all the same: the bitter doesn't last forever, and the sweet never fills the cup to overflowing. It is enough if you don't freeze in the cold and if thirst and hunger don't claw at your insides. If your back isn't broken, if your feet can walk, if both arms can bend, if both eyes see, and if both ears hear, then whom should you envy? And why? ... and prize above all else in the world those who love you and wish you well."

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About Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was a Russian novelist, historian, and dissident whose works exposed the Soviet forced-labor camp system. His major books include One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and The Gulag Archipelago. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970.

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