Note 273 — 1897

In a letter to Chertkov, January 18, 1898, Tolstoi wrote: “Letters with threats have, of course, no effect, but they are unpleasant, in this sense, that there should be people who hate futilely. I am always ready to die and that is the thing. I thought a little while ago: ... that when one is healthy one ought to try to live better on the outside, but when one is ill then learn to die better. Besides, these letters haven’t even this merit: they are so stupidly written that they have been conceived evidently only to frighten.”