To Sarkis Sarian, Yerevan, June, 1950

My dear, so much loved, my pride, my Sarik!
How happy I am having a close person like you, supporting me in an emergency. Nevertheless toiling honestly in my sphere I did a lot, quite useful for the progressive art while solving one or other problems dictated by life itself. People quite often apply to me for various articles, from different organizations, on various subjects. I almost answer all of these, with rare exception: I do not like repeat myself, I do not like insincere men; unfortunately they are in some sort of way like flies in our life nowadays…
A week ago a writer Alexander Mikhailovitch Drozdov came in Yerevan from Moscow together with his wife. He asked me to write an article about young Armenian artists in the “Literaturnaya Gazeta”. To write an article is a real nuisance. What is needed for such article? Anything! However much to praise someone this all may seem not enough for him, but all the others will think he was praised excessively, more than the others. To scold someone – it means that everyone would say that the person was not scolded enough (surely except the person himself), but then he becomes your enemy for life. My fatherly advice – leave alone this hateful deal. It’s better to create. One piece of luck will justify a thousand of failures.