My dear mama, on Tuesday there was a festival I shall never forget

My dear mama, on Tuesday there was a festival I shall never forget. We made our solemn entry into Paris. As for honours, we received all the honours that can be imagined, but it was not these that touched me most. What truly impressed me were the poor, who expressed their joy so fervently, despite the taxes that stifle them… I cannot describe to you, my dear mama, the affection and joy that everyone showed us. On leaving, we allowed the people in the crowd to kiss our hands, which gave them great pleasure. What happiness it is that persons of our rank can so easily win the love of a whole nation. I value that love and shall never forget it.

From a letter of Marie Antoinette to her mother, Empress Maria Theresa, of 14 June 1770

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At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free

At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free. So, here is the

Frederic Leighton

Frederic Leighton. “Daedalus and Icarus”, 1869 Daedalus warns his son not to climb too high: the heat of the sun may melt the wax, but Icarus is already gazing into the distance, and the lamentations of a foolish old man interest him not in the least

My dear mama, on Tuesday there was a festival I shall never forget

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At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free

Frederic Leighton

Attempts to resolve the problems of many years of uncontrolled mass migration

Characters from Gogol's "Petersburg Tales" on the pedestal of the monument to Nikolai Gogol on Nikitsky Boulevard, photograph of the 1960s