The severity of Russian laws is tempered by the lack of obligation to enforce them.

有利的时机和气候不如有利的地势，有利的地势不如人的齐心协力。

How often do we tell our own life story? How often do we adjust, embellish, make sly cuts? And the longer life goes on, the fewer are those around to challenge our account, to remind us that our life is not our life, merely the story we have told about our life.