In the book "How Steel Was Tempered", Paul used this sentence to motivate himself at the end when he was writing.

——————————————————The following are the specific chapters——————————————

Volume 2, Chapter 3

Youth wins. Typhoid fever did not kill Paul. Paul has crossed the threshold of death for the fourth time and returned to the world. After being bedridden for a month, the pale and thin Paul finally stood up, holding on to the wall with his shaky legs, and tried to walk around the room. His mother helped him to the window, and he looked at the road for a long time. The snow melted and the small puddles sparkled. It's already early spring weather outside that is warm and cold at first. On the cherry branch next to the window, a gray-breasted sparrow stood majestically. From time to time, it peeked at Paul with its cunning little eyes. "How's it going? We finally got through the winter, right?" Paul tapped on the window with his finger and whispered. His mother gave him a surprised look. "Who were you talking to there?" "With the sparrow... it flew away, so cunning." He smiled weakly. Spring is here when flowers are in full bloom. Paul began to think about returning to Kiev. He had recovered enough to walk, but something else was lurking inside him. One day, while walking in the garden, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his spine and fell to the ground. With great effort, he slowly moved into the house. The next day, the doctor performed a detailed examination on him and found a deep pit on his spine. He screamed in surprise and asked, "Why is there a pit here?" "Doctor, this is a stone on the road that collapsed. Under the city of Rivno, a three-inch shell exploded on the road behind me..." "Then how did you walk?" "No, I was lying there for more than two hours. , and then continued to ride. This is the first time it happened." The doctor frowned and examined the hole carefully. "My dear, this is a very annoying thing. The spine doesn't like this kind of vibration. I hope it won't happen again in the future. Put on your clothes, Comrade Korchagin." The doctor could not hide his worries and said sympathetically Look at this patient. Artem lives in the natal family of his wife Stepsa, who is young and very ugly. Her family is a poor farmer. One day, Paul stopped by to see Artem. In the dirty little yard, a scruffy little boy with cross-eyed eyes was running and playing. As soon as he saw Paul, he stared at him unceremoniously with his little eyes, and while he was picking his nose with concentration, he asked: "What are you going to do? Are you here to steal something? You'd better leave quickly, my mother is very powerful!" At this time, the small window of the dilapidated low wooden house opened, and Artem called him: "Come in, Povrusha!" An old woman with a face as yellow as parchment, holding a fire fork in her hand, was busy at the stove With. She gave Paul a cold look, asked him to go over, and then banged the pot and spoon. The two older girls with short braids hurriedly climbed onto the stove, looking at the guests curiously like savages who had never seen the world. Artem sat at the table, a little embarrassed. Neither his mother nor Paul approved of his marriage. He is a worker of blood, but for some reason he broke off the relationship with Galina, the beautiful female quilt factory worker who had been with the mason's daughter for three years, and married the ugly Stepsa, and became one of the five members of the family who had no male labor force. Home. After leaving work in the locomotive garage every day, he spent all his energy on the plow, rebuilding the declining family business. Artem knew that Paul disapproved of him and once said that he had fallen into the arms of "the spontaneous forces of the petty bourgeoisie". Therefore, he observed his brother to see how he would react to everything here. The two brothers sat for a while and exchanged some meaningless pleasantries that they often say when they meet. Then Paul was about to get up and leave. Artem wouldn't let him go. "Wait a minute, come and have something to eat with us. Stesa will bring you milk right now. So you have to leave tomorrow? You are still very weak, Paul." Stesa walked into the room. After saying hello to Paul, she asked Artem to go to the threshing floor to help her move things. Paul and the unanswerable old woman were the only ones left in the room. The church bells could be heard outside the window, and the old woman put down her fork and muttered dissatisfiedly: "Ah! My Lord Jesus, I've been so busy with all these damn things that I don't even have time to pray!" She took off the shawl around her neck. , looked askance at the guest, and walked to a corner of the room, where a blackened icon with a sad face hung. She pinched three bony fingers and made a sign of the cross on her chest. "Our Father in heaven, may your name be hallowed..." She whispered with her dry lips moving. In the yard, the little boy suddenly rode on a black pig with big drooping ears. He grasped the pig's bristles tightly with both hands, kicked it with both bare feet, and shouted loudly, making the pig spin around and grunt. "Drive! Drive! Let's go! Come on! Don't mess around!" The pig carried the child and ran around the yard, trying to throw him off, but the squinty-eyed naughty guy rode steadily. The old woman stopped praying, stuck her head out of the window, and shouted: "I told you to ride, but I won't kill you! Come down quickly, why don't you die of the plague! Get out of here! You little lunatic." The pig finally killed the rider. Dropped.

When the old woman was satisfied, she returned to the icon, made a pious look on her face, and continued to pray: "May your kingdom come..." The boy cried, with tears on his face, and walked to the door, wiping his bruises with his sleeves. The old woman turned around and cursed viciously: "You squinty devil, you won't even let me pray. You bastard, I'll let you eat as much as you want! ..." As he said that, he grabbed a whip from the stool. The boy immediately ran away without a trace. The two girls snorted behind the stove and laughed secretly. The old woman went to pray for the third time. Paul stood up and left without waiting for his brother to come back. As he was closing the gate, he saw the old woman sticking her head out of the small window on the side. She was spying on him. "What devil has captured my brother's heart and lured him here? Now he will never be able to get rid of it until his death. Every year Stetha gives him a child, and he will sink deeper and deeper like a beetle in a dung heap. The deeper he goes, the more likely he is to lose his job in the motorcycle garage. But I originally wanted to attract him to participate in political activities," Paul thought sadly as he walked on the deserted streets of the small town. However, he was happy again when he thought that he would leave here tomorrow and return to that big city where there were his friends and beloved people. The majestic scene of that big city, the vigorous vitality, the endless flow of people, the rumble of trams, and the sound of car horns all fascinated him. However, what attracted him most were the huge stone factories and blackened workshops, machines, and the slight rustling of the pulleys. He longed for the place where the giant wheel was spinning rapidly and the smell of engine oil was in the air, and he longed for everything he was used to. But here, in this secluded little town, Paul felt an unspeakable sadness in his heart while walking on the streets. No wonder Paul found this small town strange and boring. Even going for a walk during the day can make people feel unhappy. For example, when he passed by those chattering women sitting on the steps, he often heard them talking hurriedly: "Look, sisters, where did such an ugly monster come from?" "It looks like he is a tuberculosis patient." Ghost." "That leather jacket is quite luxurious. It must have been stolen..." and many other disgusting things. He had long since made a clean break with all this, and to him the big city had become friendlier and more lovable. There are energetic and strong-willed class brothers working there. Without knowing it, Paul reached the pine forest and stopped at a fork in the road. To the right was the grim old prison, separated from the pine forest by a tall, pointed wooden fence. Behind the prison is the white building of the hospital. It was here, in this empty square, that Varya and her comrades were hanged. Paul stood silently for a while at the original place where the gallows was set up. Then he walked towards the steep slope and went down the slope to the cemetery where the martyrs were buried. Some thoughtful person placed a wreath made of spruce branches around the grave, as if building a green wall for this small cemetery. Tall pine trees stand tall on the steep slopes, and green grass grows on the slopes of the canyon. This is the edge of the small town, quiet and deserted. The pine forest is whispering, and the spring earth is reviving, exuding the smell of moist earth. It was here that the comrades died heroically. They gave their lives so that those who were born into poverty and became slaves could live a better life. Paul slowly took off his hat. Grief, great grief, filled his heart. The most precious thing for people is life. Everyone has only one life. A person's life should be spent like this: looking back on the past, he will not regret for wasting his years, nor will he be ashamed of being mean and vulgar; on his deathbed, he can say: "My whole life and all my energy have been dedicated to The most magnificent cause in the world - the struggle for the liberation of all mankind." Live life quickly, because an inexplicable illness, or an unexpected tragic event, can interrupt life. With this thought in mind, Paul left the Tomb of the Martyrs. At home, the mother was packing her son's luggage for going out. She was very sad. Paul looked at his mother and found that she was crying secretly.