Don Quixote

with those
spiritual problems- that at times they almost touched on the latter;
but every time they were close upon what seemed to him the chief point
they promptly beat a hasty retreat, and plunged again into a sea of
subtle distinctions, reservations, quotations, allusions and appeals
to authorities, and it was with difficulty that he understood what
they were talking about.
{PART_ONE|CHAPTER_VII ^paragraph 5}
"I cannot admit it," said Sergei Ivanovich, with his habitual
clearness and distinctness of expression, and elegance of diction.
"I cannot in any case agree with Keiss that my whole conception of the
external world has been derived from impressions. The most fundamental
idea- the idea of existence- has not been received by me through
sensation; indeed, there is no special sense organ for the
transmission of such an idea."
"Yes, but they- Wurst, and Knaust, and Pripassov- would answer
that your consciousness of existence is derived from the conjunction
of all your sensations, that that consciousness of existence is the
result of your sensations. Wurst, indeed, says plainly that,
assuming there are no sensations, it follows that there is no idea
of existence."
"I maintain the contrary," began Sergei Ivanovich.
But here it seemed again to Levin that, just as they were close upon
the real point of the matter, they were again retreating, and he
made up his mind to put a question to the professor.
"According to that, if my senses are annihilated, if my body is
dead, I can have no existence of any sort?" he queried.
{PART_ONE|CHAPTER_VII ^paragraph 10}
The professor, in annoyance, and, as it were, mental suffering at
the interruption, looked round at the strange inquirer, more like a
hauler of a barge than a philosopher, and turned his eyes upon
Sergei Ivanovich, as though to ask: What's one to say to him? But
Sergei Ivanovich, who had been talking with far less stress and
one-sidedness than the professor, and who had sufficient breadth of
mind to answer the professor, and at the same time to comprehend the
simple and natural point of view from which the question was put,
smiled and said:
"That question we have no right to answer as yet...."
"We have not the requisite data," confirmed the professor, and he
went back to his argument. "No," he said; "I would point out the
fact that if, as Pripassov directly asserts, sensation is based on
impression, then we are bound to distinguish sharply between these two
conceptions."
Levin listened no more, and simply waited for the professor to go.

{PART_ONE|CHAPTER_VIII
VIII.
-
When the professor had gone, Sergei Ivanovich turned to his brother.
"Delighted that you've come. For how long? How's your farming
getting on?"
Levin knew that his elder brother took little interest in farming,
and only put the question in deference to him, and therefore he told
him only about the sale of his wheat and money matters.
Levin had meant to tell his brother of his determination to get
married, and