"The sea has no sense and no pity. If the steamer had been smaller and not made of thick iron, the waves would have crushed it to piece without the slightest compunction, and would have devoured all the people in it with no distinction of saints or sinners. The steamer had the same cruel and meaningless expression. This monster with its huge beak was dashing onwards, cutting millions of waves in its path; it had no fear of the darkness nor the wind, nor of space, nor of solitude, caring for nothing, and if the ocean had its people, this monster would have crushed them, too, without distinction of saints or sinners."

- Anton Chekhov, "Gusev", 1890.

Tolstoy with Chekhov.