“When we are angry with the country and ourselves, our own people appears to us like a horde of cowards, thieves and idlers; when things go slightly better, we are instantly tempted to raise the temperature of our assessment by two or three degrees. Some believe that there are only two landmarks between which we oscillate, Caragiale and Eminescu: our entire existence is caught between fun and drama. Others, like Cantemir, have a more realistic perception of things. Just listen to a few lines from Descriptio Moldaviae: ‘I sincerely confess that, aside from the Orthodox faith and hospitality, one may hardly find anything worth praising in all fairness about their mores.”