Ivan Turgenev Quotes

If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin.

I do not know what the heart of a bad man is like. But i do know what the heart of a good man is like. And it is terrible.

We sit in the mud... and reach for the stars.

Go forward while you can, but if your strength fails you, sit down near the road and gaze without anger or envy at those who pass by. They don't have far to go, either.

Death's an old joke, but each individual encounters it anew.

Circumstances define us; they force us onto one road or another, and then they punish us for it.

Time, as is well known, sometimes flies like a bird and sometimes crawls like a worm, but human beings are generally particularly happy when they don't notice whether it's passing quickly or slowly.

Love, I thought, is stronger than death or the fear of death. Only by it, by love, life holds together and advances.

Take what you can yourself, and don't let others get you into their hands; to belong to oneself, that is the whole thing in life.

Nothing is worse and more hurtful than a happiness that comes too late.

In my case there was no first love. I began with the second.

To desire and expect nothing for oneself and to have profound sympathy for others is genuine holiness.

People without firmness of character love to make up a fate for themselves; that relieves them of the necessity of having their own will and of taking responsibility for themselves.

Whatever a person may pray for, that person prays for a miracle. Every prayer comes down to this - Almighty God, grant that two times two not equal four.

A poet must be a psychologist, but a secret one: he should know and feel the roots of phenomena but present only the phenomena themselves in full bloom or as they fade away.

No matter how often you knock at nature's door, she won't answer in words you can understand--for Nature is dumb. She'll vibrate and moan like a violin, but you mustn't expect a song.

Nature cares nothing for logic, our human logic: she has her own, which we do not recognize and do not acknowledge until we are crushed under its wheel

That is what poetry can do. It speaks to us of what does not exist, which is not only better than what exists, but even more like the truth.

The word tomorrow was invented for indecisive people and for children.

You may live a long while with some people and be on friendly terms with them and never speak openly with them from your soul.

I was afraid of looking into my heart...afraid of thinking seriously about anything...I did not want to know whether I was loved, and I did not want to admit to myself that I was not loved.

Nothing is worse and more hurtful than a happiness that comes too late. It can give no pleasure, yet it deprives you of that most precious of rights - the right to swear and curse at your fate!

There are some moments in life, some feelings; one can only point to them and pass by.

Nature is not a temple, but a workshop, and man's the workman in it.

I never started from ideas but always from character.

So long as one's just dreaming about what to do, one can soar like an eagle and move mountains, it seems, but as soon as one starts doing it one gets worn out and tired.

That's what children are for—that their parents may not be bored.

I'm through with Tolstoy. He has ceased to exist for me.... If I eat a bowl of soup and like it, I know by that fact alone and with absolute certainty that Tolstoy will find it bad, and vice versa.

I look up to heaven only when I want to sneeze.

Oh, gentle feelings, soft sounds, the goodness and the gradual stilling of a soul that has been moved; the melting happiness of the first tender, touching joys of love- where are you?

I don't see why it's impossible to express everything that's on one's mind.

All human beings hang by a thread, an abyss may open under their feet at any moment, and yet they have to go and invent all sortsof difficulties for themselves and spoil their lives.

Every man's happiness is built on the unhappi-ness of another.

I agree with no one's opinion. I have some of my own.

Belonging to oneself--the whole essence of life lies in that.

I am a flirt: I have no heart: I have an actor's nature.

It was only the vulgarly mediocre that repelled her.

Who among us has the strength to oppose petty egoism, those petty good feelings, pity and remorse?

Even nightingales can’t be fed on fairy tales.

Nature creates while destroying, and doesn't care whether it creates or destroys as long as life isn't extinguished, as long as death doesn't lose its rights.

Whatever man prays for, he prays for a miracle. Every prayer reduces itself.

Everyone needs help from everyone else.

Great God, grant that twice two be not four.

One may speak about anything on earth with fire, with enthusiasm, with ecstasy, but one only speaks about oneself with avidity.

So many memories and so little worth remembering, and in front of me - a long, long road without a goal.

Youth eats all the sugared fancy cakes and regards them as its daily bread. But there'll come a time when you'll start asking just for a crust.

In days of doubt, in days of dreary musings on my country's fate, you alone are my comfort and support, oh great, powerful, righteous, and free Russian language!

a person who gets angry at his own illness is sure to overcome it

I've become convinced that every person should treat himself strictly and even rudely and distrustfully; it's difficult to tame the beast in oneself.

There is a sweetness in being the sole source, the autocratic and irresponsible cause of the greatest joy and profoundest pain to another.