To be alone is a natural need, just like drinking and eating; otherwise, with this communism forced on him, man comes to hate mankind. The company of men becomes poison and contamination, and it was this unbearable scourge that made me suffer most of all during those four years. There were moments when I hated every man I met, wheter innocent or guilty, and I regarded all of them as thieves who were stealing my life from me with impunity. There is no misfortune more abhorrent than when you yourself become unjust, evil, and wicked; you may realize it, even reproach yourself for it, but you are powerless to do anything about it. I have experienced that.

Fiodor Dostoievski, in 'Selected Letters of Fyodor Dostoievski'

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