Quotations and Literature Forum

I heard a quote on one of the BBC channels a few years ago at Christmas time amounting to 'what one really wants is a holiday from onesself' which I thought was quite true. Unfortunately I was in the middle of washing up and by the time I sat down to write it down I could remember neither the author nor the exact words. I thought I remembered the author was Russian (so possibly Gogol?). I've spent hours googling for it sporadically over the past few years, so far no luck (I even sent a inquiry to the beeb a few days later). I know this kind of falls in the "needle in a haystack" category of searches but does anyone have any clues or suggestions for me?