When Father was dying, he said: 'Darya don't take on too much --you'll wear yourself out, you take on only the most important thing: to have a conscience and not to be bothered by it.

In the old days conscience was very important. If someone tried living without one, it was obvious right away, everyone lived an open life then. There were all kinds of people then, too. Some would have been happy to follow their conscience, but what do you do if you're born without one? You can't buy it with money.

In the old days, you could see it: whether a person had it or not. Those who had it were conscientious, those without it were conscienceless. And now only the devil can tell, everything is mixed up in one pile. They bring it up needlessly with every word, mauling the poor thing so much it's barely alive.

And our conscience is getting old, its an old woman, and no one looks at it anymore.