A car's not the right place for showing off to a girl—the bed's the place for that. The consequences of a mistake there are more upsetting, but less tragic.

The common good and the individual good rarely coincide.

When leaders betray their people and the people don't overthrow them, it's not just the leaders who should be blamed.

You're a big boy, you ought to understand that punctual transport, public order and safe streets, polite people and good medical services are all the achievements of dictatorship.

Nobody can be forced to commit an act of villainy. You can't push anybody into the mud; people always step into it themselves.

Fairy tales lie just as much as statistics do, but sometimes you can find a grain of truth in them.

When there are strange things going on all around, every coincidence should be considered very carefully.

Drinking beer in a children's playground is an old Soviet tradition.

If you have love in you, it's a strength. But if you are in love, it's a weakness.

There is very much in the world that is bad. But usually the attempt to defeat evil engenders more evil. I advise you to do good; that is the only way to win the victory.

Love is happiness, but only when you believe it will last forever. Even though every time it turns out to be a lie, it’s only faith that gives love its strength and its joy.

Let there be no scales to weigh your un-known treasure

Whatever you now do, whatever you now believe, whatever your current circumstances may be, you are perfectly equipped and fully capable of fulfilling your needs and desires.

Tennis and golf are best played, not watched.

After you're older, two things are possibly more important than any others: health and money.

The problem with promises is that once you've made one, it's bound to be broken. It's like an unspoken cosmic rule.

Writing seems to be more difficult as you move through the years.

Within each of us there is a silence as vast as the universe. We long for it. We can return to it.

So few the grains of happiness measured against all the dark and still the scales balance.

I can be your best friend or your worst enemy. You seem to prefer the latter.

One of the dumber things my manager said was, Stick to the melody. But I can't.