When legitimate interests cannot be protected by truthfulness and honesty, prudent people always learn to employ means which experience has proved to be more effectual.

In a country where the law does not afford protection, the strong man defends himself by his strength, the weak by cunning and duplicity.

This fully explains the fact that in Turkey the Christians are less truthful than the Mahometans.
But we have wandered a long way from the road to Bashkiria.

Let us therefore return at once.
Of all the journeys which I made in Russia this was one of the most agreeable.

The weather was bright and warm, without being unpleasantly hot; the roads were tolerably smooth; the tarantass, which had been hired for the whole journey, was nearly as comfortable as a tarantass can be; good milk, eggs, and white bread could be obtained in abundance; there was not much difficulty in procuring horses in the villages through which we passed, and the owners of them were not very extortionate in their demands.