Page:Fülöp-Miller - Lenin and Gandhi.pdf/19



Lenin to Gor'kil:

"I know nothing more beautiful than the 'Appassionata,' I could hear it every day. It is marvellous, unearthly music. Every time I hear these notes, I think with pride and perhaps childlike naiveté, that it is wonderful what man can accomplish. But I cannot listen to music often, it affects my nerves. I want to say amiable stupidities and stroke the heads of the people who can create such beauty in a filthy hell. But to-day is not the time to stroke people's heads; to-day hands descend to split skulls open, split them open ruthlessly, although opposition to all violence is our ultimate ideal—it is a hellishly hard task"