The Idiot vocabulary

But that exceptional intelligence could not grasp many things which are understood even by some stupid people. For instance, he was absolutely unable to understand why people are depressed, why they weep, shoot themselves, and even kill others; why they fret about things that do not affect them personally, and why they laugh when they read Gogol or Shtchedrin . . . .

Anton Chekhov. The Lady with the Dog and Other Stories

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"And confess there is a feeling that you want to jump out of the window, like Gogol’s bridegroom?"

Leo Tolstoy. Anna Karenina