"Frankly speaking, I never thought the notes and phrases from my pocket book which had seemed redundant when I was writing my memoirs would be collected in this beautiful edition. That’s why I came up with the title – it means some plants grow on the cultivated soil without being specifically sown. I apologize in advance because the readers might find some of the "grown plants" not particularly cultivated or cultured. I hope I won’t be severely judged considering that most of my self-sown thoughts were spontaneous reactions to well-known people and current events, the opinions based on sad and merry reminiscences. The events, however, were far from being tediously similar – the tragic were followed by the comical, tears by laughter, pleasure by unbearable pain..." – from the author’s introduction.