A memorable quote from Tolstoy's " The Death of Ivan Ilyich "

“It is as if I had been going downhill while I imagined I was going up. And that is really what it was. I was going up in public opinion, but to the same extent life was ebbing away from me. And now it is all done and there is only death.” Leo Tolstoy author The Death of Ivan Ilych book Ivan Ilych Golovin