Yevgeny Zamyatin — We [905]

And in my heart—an unpleasant, a painful compression, connected with a sense of pity. (But the heart is nothing but an ideal pump; compression, shrinkage, the sucking in of fluid by a pump are technical absurdities. It is clear, then, how essentially preposterous, unnatural, and morbid are the “loves,” “pities,” and all the other nonsense that causes such compressions!) — Yevgeny Zamyatin, We, 905

Note

Brilliantly encapsulates the protagonist’s ideological defense mechanism, abruptly reducing organic emotion to a mechanical malfunction of an ‘ideal pump.’