Book V, Part II
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Children are not yet burdened by the cynicism and pretensions that adults accumulate. Dostoevsky wrote this in the wake of his own rebirth—his life spared at the last moment by a czar's pardon. The firing squad's near miss gave him a new gratitude for simplicity and truth, which he found mirrored in the unguarded honesty of children. This recognition offers a path to healing: by engaging with the unfiltered purity of childhood, one can reconnect with unspoiled aspects of the self.