There are seconds, they only come five or six at a time, and you suddenly feel the presence of eternal harmony, fully acheived. It is nothing earthly; not that it's heavenly, but man cannot endure it in his earthly state. One must change physically or die. The feeling is clear and indisputable. As if you suddenly sense the whole of nature and suddenly say: yes, this is true. This is not tenderheartedness, but simply joy.

Fyodor Dostoevsky from 'The Devils', 1873