"Elegance is inborn among the men of pure Sclavonic blood. Their character unites a mixture of simplicity, gentleness, and sensibility, which seduces all hearts: it is often combined with a good deal of irony and some little deceitfulness; but, when the heart is naturally amiable, these faults are transformed into a kind of grace. The people further possess the advantage of a countenance, the delicacy in the expression of which is inimitable; it influences, by an unknown charm, by the exhibition of a tender melancholy, a suffering gentleness, which almost always springs from a secret sense of evil, hid by the sufferer from himself, in order the better to disguise it from others. The Russians are, in short, a resigned nation, — this simple description explains everything. The man who is deprived of liberty, — and here the definition of that word extends to natural rights and real wants, — though he may have all other advantages, is like a plant excluded from the air: in vain do you water its roots, the languishing stem produces a few leaves, but will never send forth flowers. The true Russians have something peculiar to themselves, both in their character, their countenance, and their whole bearing. Their carriage is light, and all their movements denote a natural superiority."
"Elegance is inborn among the men of pure Sclavonic blood. Their character unites a mixture of simplicity, gentleness, and sensibility, which seduces all hearts: it is often combined with a good deal of irony and some little deceitfulness; but, when the heart is naturally amiable, these faults are transformed into a kind of grace. The people further possess the advantage of a countenance, the delicacy in the expression of which is inimitable; it influences, by an unknown charm, by the exhibition of a tender melancholy, a suffering gentleness, which almost always springs from a secret sense of evil, hid by the sufferer from himself, in order the better to disguise it from others. The Russians are, in short, a resigned nation, — this simple description explains everything. The man who is deprived of liberty, — and here the definition of that word extends to natural rights and real wants, — though he may have all other advantages, is like a plant excluded from the air: in vain do you water its roots, the languishing stem produces a few leaves, but will never send forth flowers. The true Russians have something peculiar to themselves, both in their character, their countenance, and their whole bearing. Their carriage is light, and all their movements denote a natural superiority."
— Marquis de Custine, Russia in 1839
Very well said.