People love talking of their diseases, although they are the most uninteresting things in their lives. - Anton Chekhov

Can words such as Orthodox, Jew, or Catholic really express some sort of exclusive personal virtues or merits?

[Ognev] recalled endless, heated, purely Russian arguments, when the wranglers, spraying spittle and banging their fists on the table, fail to understand yet interrupt one another, themselves not even noticing it, contradict themselves with every phrase, change the subject, then, having argued for two or three hours, begin to laugh.

"When asked, "Why do you always wear black?", he said, "I am mourning for my life.