'The single time that I was at Blok's, I actually mentioned to him that the poet Benedict Livshits jokes that his ability to write poetry is hindered by Blok's very existence. Blok didn't laugh, but answered completely seriously, 'I understand that. My ability to write is hindered by Leo Tolstoy.'

- From 'Memoires of A. Blok', by Anna Akhmatova, Russia According to Women