Need and Respect Essay Example for Free

Need and Respect Essay MichelGerges 18/11/12 â€Å" Respect is the key, they are many doors in life and basketball could be one but if you don’t get the key of respect then you will never get pass that door.† Many people that are trying to attract good things into their life have one major flaw. They do not respect what they seek. Our team desires to win and to succeed in the game of basketball but we do not the respect or mind set to do so. Respect is a very important factor in any sport. You must respect your teammates, your coach, the referee, the fans and your opponent. More importantly, you must respect the game. You must show up on time for games and practices and respect the rules of the game and the rules of the STM team. These rules were simple, the coaches did not ask for much from us. All they had asked for was for us to show respect for everyone on and off the court. Another rule was to be a leader, in a way which you wouldn’t let your teammates disturb other leagues that go on in the church such as other sports league. Show them the respect that we would want back in return. By not telling our friends to stop fooling around then we don’t show any leadership. Leadership is also a way to show respect. We didn’t show leadership when Mina had asked us all to calm down and to get our friends to stop disturbing the league. Mina has better things to do on his Saturday mornings but he decides every morning to get up early to help us even though we have been nothing but ungrateful children who just want to play around and not play real basketball or find out what it’s really like to have the heart for the game. Also, coming into practice late and walking in as if you own the place is unacceptable. It shows a lack of respect and self-discipline. We should treat this team as if it was a team outside of the church. Actually we should treat this with double the respect because this team is a privilege not a right. Not many of us have noticed that yet. Respect to me means being able to step in someone else’s shoes and take a look at life from a different point of view. Everybody has a story and a history we may never hear about, and we must be understanding and non-judgmental. Its loving and caring for everyone around us, for we are all important pieces of the big puzzle that is life. This is what I think respect means but it means many different things to different people and we need to learn to have one common ground with each other. This will help us  to advance in life and succeed and this is the same thing with basketball. If we want to win games and win tournaments than we must have respect for all our coach and teammates. Mentally and physically. We need to sacrifice our body when working hard so that you are giving a hundred and ten percent on the court and not regretting it.

Do the family and the peer group play important roles in the reproduction of violence in everyday practice? :: essays research papers

The term violence doesn’t necessarily have a fixed definition; it can be interpreted in many ways and the understanding of violence changes from person to person, circumstance to circumstance†¦. What one man may see as a violent act, the next man may disagree. A violent act cannot, â€Å"amount to a criminal offence unless at least some observer considered it to be justified.† (1) One has to consider whether the violent act was committed intentionally, recklessly or accidentally. The word aggression is often synonymous with violence, yet we are encouraged to channel aggression properly and put it into practices in fields such as sport and business. This can be dangerous as â€Å"aggressive tendencies develop in many people†¦ in an increasingly competitive world† (2) the most important factor here is that both violence and aggression are attempts to impose dominance. (3) The various interpretations of violence can be best put simply into four categories ; physically defensive, where violence is seen as the only way to prevent injury to one’s self. The defining emotion here is fear; frustrative, where the victim is seen as uncooperative or resistant. The defining emotion here is anger; malefic, where the victim is seen as disrespectful or contemptuous. The defining emotion here is hatred; and frustrative-malefic where anger is displaced by hatred. Juvenile violent crime today often heavily involves the usage of weapons, In particular knives. The crimes of juveniles are often a lot more violent than years previous and we can draw on examples from the murder of Jamie Bulger and Damiola Taylor. Although these, at large, are restricted (and high profile) cases there is still a growing feeling that juveniles today are more competitive on the â€Å"streets† and are getting involved in violence as a means to impress fellow peers through gaining a reputation and also getting more desperate in search of material goods such as mobile phones. Both these factors have always been key in the growing-up process of adolescents. Peer group influence is well established especially regarding drugs and alcohol. It can also extend to bullying behaviour- which can also be a response by a child who, themselves, is being bullied at home by an over-bearing parent. In this way the child uses bullying as a release, out of frustration with conditi ons at home. Bullying can also be attributed to part of growing up. A lot of bullies are regular children, with no history of violence or abuse, who simply try to impress their peers by physically and mentally attacking a child whom they deem weaker than them.

Personal Development Plan Essay

I have always been interested in the financial and investment sector. The movements of the stock market and the forces driving the stock values hold considerable degree of interest. I realize that a stockbroker needs to add value to financial information in order to satisfy the customer queries and investigative requirements of the companies being dealt. The consumers today have easy access to a vast range of financial knowledge and data available on the Internet coupled with company specific details that provides extensive information on the current and projected financial trends. The stock broker under such circumstances needs to be highly alert and aware of the market trends and fluctuating stock values in order to meet the needs of an increasingly knowledgeable customer. (Asia One Business Article, Sep 2007) A career as a stock broker requires a complete understanding of the financial markets and environmental forces that drive the stock trading market. A stock broker is an individual responsible for a business deal on a stock exchange. This primarily involves buying and selling of securities on behalf of people and institutions. Usually, a negotiation is made between two authorised members of the exchange. (Eduquity.com) For the purposes of convenience, an ordinary person is no longer needed to walk into the premises of any institution, for instance, the New York Stock Exchange, to enquire on the trade stock. This exchange is done through a broker. However, a stock broker is not just confined in such plain participation in a transaction as there are other stock broking opportunities such as execution-only, advisory dealing, and discretionary dealing, and other related services. Execution-only stock broker involves the implementation of the client’s instructions to buy or sell. A stock broker who focuses on advisory dealing informs and gives important information to the client on which shares to buy and sell, but leaves the task of final decision-making to the jurisdiction of the investor. Meanwhile, a stock broker who is in-charge with discretionary dealing determines the client’s investment intentions and serves as the mainly involved person in all transactions and decision-making functions done on the client’s behalf. In general, stock brokers provide relevant and useful information on trading stocks, for instance on the cases of which stocks or mutual funds to be bought. (estockwise.com) Keeping in mind these specific requirements and my interest in the financial market I aspire to be a stock broker. In order for me to be a full-pledged stock broker, I must be involved in activities and related opportunities that will increase my competencies, particularly those that I need to be a successful stock broker. Of course, it is necessary to finish my studies first. I will begin by providing assistance to a certified stock broker. This is my short term aspiration. By being an associate, I will have direct exposure to the business transactions that my employer deals with. Gaining experience is my key motivation. My medium aspiration is to get promoted or trusted with bigger responsibilities. For example, my employer will ask me to do things that are similar to his/her functions, allow me to decide on important things, expect me to be reliant to classified tasks, and the likes. After staying on this position for a significant period of time, I will try to evaluate myself if I am already capable of entering my long term aspiration – that is – being a stock broker. This can be achieved once I qualify the preconditions to obtaining a stock broker license. I will immediately take up the needed examinations and eligibility requirements. My career goal is to provide my clients with the necessary guidance and direction towards investments that meet their specific needs and requirements. (estockwise.com) Skills Required For the Chosen Role A stockbroker can offer three types of services depending on their individual capabilities and interest.  · Discretionary stock broking service constitutes management of client investments and making financial decisions on their behalf. This type of service requires building of huge trust and confidence within the customer.  · Advisory stock broking service that involves advising the clients on various investment options available and the desirable course of action with predictive impacts on finance. The client needs to decide on the action or alternative that suits his needs best.  · Executing stock broking service where the stock broker is only involved in buying and selling of stocks as per client’s instructions. In this case the advice or knowledge of market expertise is not required. He merely acts as per the client’s instructions. The basic essential job responsibilities of a stock broker are –  · Managing and reviewing investment portfolios for their clients  · Research the financial market with the cooperation of investment analysts who can provide actual and factual information on the performance of companies and markets  · Provide accurate information on stock market performance and stock values to the customers  · Provide various advisory and specialized services to the clients In view of the type of service and role specific needs of the stock broker the skills or competencies required to fulfill their responsibilities have been identified as follows:  · excellent oral communication  · self-confidence and decision making ability  · Persuasive nature  · Professional approach  · Numeric ability  · Logical reasoning  · In-depth market knowledge and attention to detail  · knowledge of current socio, political, and economic trends  · good judgment of risks  · honesty and a trustworthy attitude In addition to the above mentioned competencies an individual aspiring to be a stock broker needs to keep his cool and have the ability to work under pressure. The drive and urge to succeed and excel in their work is a primary requisite to achieve career objectives as a stock broker. (www.Learndirect-advice.co.uk) Personal Strengths A review of my personal strengths and abilities reveal communication as one of the strongest points that can work to my advantage in career management. Petit, Goris and Vaught (1997) noted communication’s function is essential for cases like allowing employees to conduct meetings, make memos, provide feedback and share corporate-wide information. I believed that the previous exposures and experiences that I gained has greatly assisted me in acquiring this core competency. Good communication skill was gained from giving presentations at seminars, supplier and customer service transactions (e.g. issuing clear and concise instructions, advising and assisting customers, etc). I am also used at working on team projects particularly during my course. As a member of the team projects I have proved my abilities as a good and empathetic listener that has enabled me to judge the situation and present effective solutions to the issues in hand. My team leader noticed my natural sense of persuading others in the team to coordinate and cooperate better and agree to the objectives and milestones that were vital for the success of the project. This particular observation was quite helpful since I was given the team coordinator responsibilities in the subsequent projects. My involvement in the capacity of a team coordinator greatly improved my skills of communication and persuasion. Considering the significant role of communication in stock broking, coordinating is among the basic ingredients of my professional success. I also believed to the spill over effects of effective coordinating function like the development of teamwork and successful working relationship. Teamwork is also attributed to the positive effects upon the psychological health and well-being of organisations member (Carter and West 1999). Through effective communication, people are motivated to work in unity and towards the achievement of individual and organisational goals alike. Personal Weakness In my previous job I had landed into an argument with my team member while discussing the feasible alternative that can be adopted to complete the task objectives nullifying the associated risks. The heated argument was not seen in a favorable light by my managers. Indulging in the process of self introspection I realized that I tend to be quite dictating and adopt a more commanding tone while communicating with other people. Though I can persuade and coax people into agreeing to my views and observations the commanding tone that I use to communicate the message is not liked by most people. This is not a favorable attitude and causes problems in development of harmonious relationships with fellow colleagues. This weakness is more a form of autocratic leadership that has become outdated and irrelevant in today’s business world. People and institutions do not favor this style of leadership anymore and this can pose serious limitations to career growth and development prospects. The current management style prefers a softer approach to people in order to develop a productive and effective team. As stated by a few authors (e.g. Cohen and Brand 1993; Hyde 1992), management requires leader’s full participation and involvement instead of designating individual groups who will shoulder all the responsibilities. Furthermore, this also helps in creating a sense of commitment and loyalty (Hill 1991). In the business point of view, good leadership proves to be quite beneficial as aids in effectively meeting job-related demands, creating higher-performing teams, fostering renewed loyalty and commitment, increasing motivational level, and reducing absenteeism and turnover of employees (Drucker 1995).   I presumed that I am the opposite of a favoured leader. I am autocratic which means I tend to be overly manipulative and domineering. This attitude hinders the development of harmonious relationship or esprit de corps among colleagues and most importantly on the part of potential clients. I recognised the need to learn a leadership style that will be instrumental on the achievement of my intended career role as well as the development of other important values useful in my future as stock broker and person as whole.

Unhappy In Its Own Way An Anna Karenina Study Guide

Published in 1877, Leo Tolstoy referred to Anna Karenina as the first novel he’d written, despite having published several novellas and novels before — including a little book called War and Peace. His sixth novel was produced after a prolonged period of creative frustration for Tolstoy as he worked fruitlessly on a novel based on the life of Russian Tsar Peter the Great, a project that went nowhere slowly and drove Tolstoy to despair. He found inspiration in the local story of a woman who had thrown herself in front of a train after discovering that her lover had been unfaithful to her; this event became the kernel that eventually sprouted into what many believe to be the greatest Russian novel of all time — and one of the greatest novels, period. For the modern reader, Anna Karenina (and any 19th-century Russian novel) can seem imposing and daunting. Its length, its cast of characters, the Russian names, the distance between our own experience and more than a century of societal evolution combined with the distance between a long-gone culture and modern sensibilities make it easy to assume that Anna Karenina will be difficult to understand. And yet the book remains immensely popular, and not solely as an academic curiosity: Every day regular readers pick up this classic and fall in love with it. The explanation for its perpetual popularity is twofold. The simplest and most obvious reason is Tolstoy’s immense talent: His novels haven’t become classics solely because of their complexity and the literary tradition he worked in — they’re fantastically well written, entertaining, and compelling, and Anna Karenina is no exception. In other words, Anna Karenina is an enjoyable reading experience. The second reason for its staying power is an almost-contradictory combination of the evergreen nature of its themes and its transitional nature. Anna Karenina simultaneously tells a story based on social attitudes and behaviors that are just as powerful and entrenched today as they were in the 1870s and broke incredible new ground in terms of literary technique. The literary style — explosively fresh when published — means the novel feels modern today despite its age. Plot Anna Karenina follows two main plot tracks, both fairly superficial love stories; while there are many philosophical and social issues tackled by various sub-plots in the story (most notably a section near the end where characters set off for Serbia to support an attempt at independence from Turkey) these two relationships are the core of the book. In one, Anna Karenina embarks on an affair with a passionate young cavalry officer. In the second, Anna’s sister-in-law Kitty initially rejects, then later embraces the advances of an awkward young man named Levin. The story opens in the home of Stepan Stiva Oblonsky, whose wife Dolly has discovered his infidelity. Stiva has been carrying on an affair with a former governess to their children and has been pretty open about it, scandalizing society and humiliating Dolly, who threatens to leave him. Stiva is paralyzed by this turn of events; his sister, Princess Anna Karenina, arrives to try and calm the situation down. Anna is beautiful, intelligent, and married to the prominent government minister Count Alexei Karenin, and she is able to mediate between Dolly and Stiva and get Dolly to agree to stay in the marriage. Dolly has a younger sister, Princess Ekaterina Kitty Shcherbatskaya, who is being courted by two men: Konstantin Dmitrievich Levin, a socially-awkward landowner, and Count Alexei Kirillovich Vronsky, a handsome, passionate military officer. As you might expect, Kitty is enamored of the dashing officer and chooses Vronsky over Levin, which devastates the earnest man. However, things take an immediate gossipy turn when Vronsky encounters Anna Karenina and falls deeply for her on first sight, which in turn devastates Kitty. Kitty is so hurt by this turn of events she actually becomes sick. For her part, Anna finds Vronsky attractive and compelling, but she dismisses her feelings as a temporary infatuation and returns home to Moscow. Vronsky, however, pursues Anna there and tells her that he loves her. When her husband becomes suspicious, Anna fiercely denies any involvement with Vronsky, but when he’s involved in a terrible accident during a horse race, Anna can’t hide her feelings for Vronsky and confesses that she loves him. Her husband, Karenin, is mainly concerned with his public image. He refuses her a divorce, and she moves to their country estate and begins a torrid affair with Vronsky that soon finds her pregnant with his child. Anna is tortured by her decisions, wracked with guilt over betraying her marriage and abandoning her son with Karenin and gripped by powerful jealousy in relation to Vronsky. Anna has a difficult childbirth while her husband visits her in the country; upon seeing Vronsky there he has a moment of grace and agrees to divorce her if she wishes, but leaves the final decision with her after forgiving her for her infidelity. Anna is outraged by this, resenting his ability to suddenly take the high road, and she and Vronsky travel with the baby, going to Italy. Anna is restless and lonely, however, so they eventually return to Russia, where Anna finds herself increasingly isolated. The scandal of her affair leaves her unwanted in the social circles she once traveled in, while Vronsky enjoys a double standard and is free to do as he likes. Anna begins to suspect and fear that Vronsky has fallen out of love with her and has become unfaithful, and she grows increasingly angry and unhappy. As her mental and emotional state deteriorates, she goes to the local train station and impulsively throws herself in front of an oncoming train, killing herself. Her husband, Kar enin, takes in her and Vronsky’s child. Meanwhile, Kitty and Levin meet again. Levin has been at his estate, trying unsuccessfully to convince his tenants to modernize their farming techniques, while Kitty has been recovering at a spa. The passage of time and their own bitter experiences have changed them, and they quickly fall in love and marry. Levin chafes under the restrictions of married life and feels little affection for his son when he’s born. He has a crisis of faith that leads him back to the church, becoming suddenly fervent in his belief. A near-tragedy that threatens his child’s life also sparks in him the first sense of true love for the boy. Major Characters Princess Anna Arkadyevna Karenina:  Main focus of the novel, wife of Alexei Karenin, brother of Stepan. Anna’s fall from grace in society is one of the main themes of the novel; as the story opens she is a force of order and normalcy come to her brother’s house to set things right. By the end of the novel, she has seen her entire life unravel — her position in society lost, her marriage destroyed, her family taken from her, and — she is convinced at the end — her lover lost to her. At the same time, her marriage is held up as typical of the time and place in the sense that her husband — much like other husbands in the story — is stunned to discover that his wife has a life or desires of her own outside of the family. Count Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin:  A government minister and Anna’s husband. He is much older than she is, and at first appears to be a stiff, moralizing man more concerned with how her affair will make him look in society than anything else. Over the course of the novel, however, we find that Karenin is one of the truly moral characters. He is legitimately spiritual, and he is shown to be legitimately worried over Anna and the descent of her life. He tries to do the right thing at every turn, including taking in his wife’s child with another man after her death. Count Alexei Kirillovich Vronsky:  A dashing military man of great passions, Vronsky truly loves Anna, but has no capacity to understand the differences between their social positions and chafes at her increasing desperation and attempts to keep him close to her out of jealousy and loneliness as her social isolation grows. He is crushed by her suicide and his instinct is to head off to volunteer to fight in Serbia as a form of self-sacrifice in an attempt to atone for his failings. Prince Stepan Stiva Arkadyevich Oblonsky:  Anna’s brother is handsome and bored with his marriage. He has regular love affairs and spends beyond his means in order to be part of high society. He is surprised to discover that his wife, Kitty, is upset when one of his most recent affairs is discovered. He is in every way representative of the Russian aristocratic class in the late 19th-century according to Tolstoy — ignorant of real matters, unfamiliar with work or struggle, self-centered and morally blank. Princess Darya Dolly Alexandrovna Oblonskaya: Dolly is Stepan’s wife, and is presented as the opposite of Anna in her decisions: She is devastated by Stepan’s affairs, but she still loves him, and she values her family too much to do anything about it, and so remains in the marriage. The irony of Anna guiding her sister-in-law to the decision to stay with her husband is intentional, as is the contrast between the social consequences that Stepan faces for his infidelity to Dolly (there are none because he is a man) and those faced by Anna. Konstantin Kostya Dmitrievich Là «vin:  The most serious character in the novel, Levin is a country landowner who finds the supposedly sophisticated ways of the city’s elite to be inexplicable and hollow. He is thoughtful and spends much of the novel struggling to understand his place in the world, his faith in God (or lack thereof), and his feelings towards his wife and family. Whereas the more superficial men in the story marry and start families easily because it is the expected path for them and they do as society expects unthinkingly — leading to infidelity and restlessness — Levin is contrasted as a man who works through his feelings and emerges satisfied with his decision to marry and start a family. Princess Ekaterina Kitty Alexandrovna Shcherbatskaya:  Dolly’s younger sister and eventually wife to Levin. Kitty initially wishes to be with Vronsky due to his handsome, dashing persona and rejects the somber, thoughtful Levin. After Vronsky humiliates her by pursuing the married Anna over her, she descends into a melodramatic illness. Kitty evolves over the course of the novel, however, deciding to devote her life to helping others and then appreciating Levin’s attractive qualities when they next meet. She is a woman who chooses to be a wife and mother instead of having it thrust upon her by society, and is arguably the happiest character at the end of the novel. Literary Style Tolstoy broke new ground in Anna Karenina with the use of two innovative techniques: A Realist approach and Stream of Consciousness. Realism Anna Karenina wasn’t the first Realist novel, but it is regarded as a nearly-perfect example of the literary movement. A Realist novel attempts to depict everyday things without artifice, as opposed to the more flowery and idealist traditions that most novels pursue. Realist novels tell grounded stories and avoid any sort of embellishment. The events in Anna Karenina are set out simply; people behave in realistic, believable ways, and events are always explicable and their causes and consequences can be traced from one to the next. As a result, Anna Karenina remains relatable to modern audiences because there are no artistic flourishes that mark it in a certain moment of the literary tradition, and the novel is also a time capsule of what life was like for a certain class of people in 19th-century Russia because Tolstoy took pains to make his descriptions accurate and factual instead of pretty and poetic. It also means that while characters in Anna Karenina represent segments of society or prevailing attitudes, they aren’t symbols — they are offered as people, with layered and sometimes contradictory beliefs. Stream of Consciousness Stream of Consciousness is most often associated with the groundbreaking postmodern works of James Joyce and Virginia Woolf and other 20th century writers, but Tolstoy pioneered the technique in Anna Karenina. For Tolstoy, it was used in service of his Realist goals — his peek into the thoughts of his characters reinforces the realism by showing that the physical aspects of his fictional world are consistent — different characters see the same things the same way — while perceptions about people shift and change from character to character because each person has only a sliver of the truth. For example, characters think differently of Anna when they learn of her affair, but the portrait artist Mikhailov, unaware of the affair, never changes his superficial opinion of the Karenins. Tolstoy’s use of stream of consciousness also allows him to depict the crushing weight of opinion and gossip against Anna. Every time a character judges her negatively because of her affair with Vronsky, Tolstoy adds a bit of weight to the social judgment that eventually drives Anna to suicide. Themes Marriage as Society The first line of the novel is famous for both its elegance and the way it lays out the major theme of the novel succinctly and beautifully: â€Å"All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.† Marriage is the central theme of the novel. Tolstoy uses the institution to demonstrate different relationships with society and the invisible set of rules and infrastructure we create and abide by, which can destroy us. There are four marriages examined closely in the novel: Stepan and Dolly:  This couple can be seen as a successful marriage as compromise: Neither party is truly happy in the marriage, but they make arrangements with themselves to carry on (Dolly focuses on her children, Stepan pursues his fast lifestyle), sacrificing their true desires.Anna and Karenin: They refuse compromise, choosing to pursue their own path, and are miserable as a result. Tolstoy, who in real life was very happily married at the time, portrays the Karenins as the result of viewing marriage as a step on the society ladder rather than a spiritual bond between people. Anna and Karenin do not sacrifice their true selves but are unable to attain them because of their marriage.Anna and Vronsky:  Although not actually married, they have an ersatz marriage after Anna leaves her husband and becomes pregnant, traveling and living together. Their union is no happier for having been born from impulsive passion and emotion, however — they pursue their desires but are pr evented from enjoying them because of the restrictions of the relationship.Kitty and Levin:  The happiest and most secure couple in the novel, Kitty and Levin’s relationship begins poorly when Kitty rejects him but ends as the strongest marriage in the book. The key is that their happiness is not due to any sort of social matching or commitment to religious principle, but rather to the thoughtful approach they both take, learning from their disappointments and mistakes and choosing to be with each other. Levin is arguably the most complete person in the story because he finds his satisfaction on his own, without relying on Kitty. Social Status as Prison Throughout the novel, Tolstoy demonstrates that people’s reactions to crises and changes are dictated not so much by their individual personalities or willpower, but by their background and social status. Karenin is initially stunned by his wife’s infidelity and has no idea what to do because the concept of his wife pursuing her own passions is foreign to a man of his position. Vronsky cannot conceive of a life where he does not consistently put himself and his desires first, even if he truly cares for someone else, because that is how he has been raised. Kitty desires to be a selfless person who does for others, but she cannot make the transformation because that is not who she is — because that is not how she has been defined her whole life. Morality Tolstoy’s characters all struggle with their morality and spirituality. Tolstoy had very strict interpretations of the duty of Christians in terms of violence and adultery, and each of the characters struggles to come to terms with their own spiritual sense. Levin is the key character here, as he is the only one who gives up his self-image and actually engages in an honest conversation with his own spiritual feelings in order to understand who he is and what his purpose in life is. Karenin is a very moral character, but this is presented as a natural instinct for Anna’s husband—not something he has come to through thought and contemplation, but rather simply the way he is. As a result, he does not truly grow during the course of the story but finds satisfaction in being true to himself. All the other major characters ultimately live selfish lives and are thus less happy and less fulfilled than Levin. Historical Context Anna Karenina was written at a time in Russian history — and world history — when culture and society were restless and on the verge of rapid change. Within fifty years the world would plunge into a World War that would redraw maps and destroy ancient monarchies, including the Russian imperial family. Old societal structures were under attack from forces without and within, and traditions were constantly questioned. And yet, Russian aristocratic society (and, again, high society around the world) was more rigid and bound by tradition than ever. There was a real feeling that the aristocracy was out of touch and insular, more concerned with its own internal politics and gossip than the country’s growing problems. There was a clear divide between the moral and political views of the countryside and the cities, with the upper classes viewed increasingly as immoral and dissolute. Key Quotes Aside from the famous opening line All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way, Anna Karenina is stuffed with fascinating thoughts: â€Å"And death, as the sole means of reviving love for herself in his heart, of punishing him, and of gaining the victory in that contest which an evil spirit in her heart was waging against him, presented itself clearly and vividly to her.† â€Å"Life itself has given me the answer, in my knowledge of what is good and bad. And that knowledge I did not acquire in any way; it was given to me as to everybody, given because I could not take it from anywhere.† â€Å"I see a peacock, like this featherhead, whos only amusing himself.† â€Å"The highest Petersburg society is essentially one: in it everyone knows everyone else, everyone even visits everyone else.† â€Å"He could not be mistaken. There were no other eyes like those in the world. There was only one creature in the world who could concentrate for him all the brightness and meaning of life. It was she.† â€Å"The Karenins, husband and wife, continued living in the same house, met every day, but were complete strangers to one another.† â€Å"Love those that hate you.† â€Å"All the variety, all the charm, all the beauty of life is made up of light and shadow.† â€Å"Whatever our destiny is or may be, we have made it ourselves, and we do not complain of it.† â€Å"Respect was invented to cover the empty place where love should be.†