# Quote — Mikhail Lérmontov, A Hero of Our Time

> The history of a man's soul, even the pettiest soul, is hardly less interesting and useful than the history of a whole people; especially when the former is the result of the observations of a mature mind upon itself, and has been written without any egotistical desire of arousing sympathy or astonishment. Rousseau's Confessions has precisely this defect – he read it to his friends.

- Author: [Mikhail Lérmontov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mikhail-lermontov.md)
- Book: [A Hero of Our Time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mikhail-lermontov/a-hero-of-our-time.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mikhail_Lermontov#A_Hero_of_Our_Time_(1840%3B_rev._1841)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/mikhail-lermontov/a-hero-of-our-time/the-history-of-a-mans

## More from this book

> A childish feeling, I admit, but, when we retire from the conventions of society and draw close to nature, we involuntarily become children: each attribute acquired by experience falls away from the soul, which becomes anew such as it was once and will surely be again.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mikhail-lermontov/a-hero-of-our-time/a-childish-feeling.md)

> I am like a mariner born and bred on board a buccaneer brig whose soul has become so inured to storm and strife that if cast ashore he would weary and languish no matter how alluring the shady groves and how bright the gentle sun.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mikhail-lermontov/a-hero-of-our-time/i-am-like.md)

> One should never spurn a penitent criminal: in his despair he may become twice as much a criminal as before.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mikhail-lermontov/a-hero-of-our-time/one-should-never.md)