sides we see vanity puffed up out of all proportion;
brutal, monstrous appetites.... Do you know how many we shall catch by
little, ready-made ideas? When I left Russia, Littre's dictum that crime
is insanity was all the rage; I come back and I find that crime is
no longer insanity, but simply common sense, almost a duty; anyway,
a gallant protest. 'How can we expect a cultured man not to commit a
murder, if he is in need of money.' But these are only the first fruits.
The Russian God has already been vanquished by cheap vodka. The peasants
are drunk, the mothers are drunk, the children are drunk, the churches
are empty, and in the peasant courts one hears, 'Two hundred lashes or
stand us a bucket of vodka.' Oh, this generation has only to grow up.
It's only a pity we can't afford to wait, or we might have let them get
a bit more tipsy! Ah, what a pity there's no proletariat! But there will
be, there will be; we are going that way...."

"It's a pity, too, that we've grown greater fools," muttered Stavrogin,
moving forward as before.

"Listen. I've seen a child of six years old leading home his drunken
mother, whilst she swore at him with foul words. Do you suppose I am
glad of that? When it's in our hands, maybe we'll mend things... if need
be, we'll drive them for forty years into the wilderness.... But one
or two generations of vice are essential now; monstrous, abject vice by
which a man is transformed into a loathsome, cruel, egoistic reptile.
That's what we need! And what's more, a little 'fresh blood' that we
may get accustomed to it. Why are you laughing? I am not contradicting
myself. I am only contradicting the philanthropists and Shigalovism,
not myself! I am a scoundrel, not a socialist. Ha ha ha! I'm only sorry
there's no time. I promised Karmazinov to begin in May, and to make an
end by October. Is that too soon? Ha ha! Do you know what, Stavrogin?
Though the Russian people use foul language, there's nothing cynical
about them so far. Do you know the serfs had more self-respect than
Karmazinov? Though they were beaten they always preserved their gods,
which is more than Karmazinov's done."

"Well, Verhovensky, this is the first time I've heard you talk, and I
listen with amazement," observed Stavrogin. "So you are really not a
socialist, then, but some sort of... ambitious politician?"

"A scoundrel, a scoundrel! You are wondering what I am. I'll tell you
what I am directly, that's what I am leading up