Russians alone are able to combine so many opposites in themselves at one and the same time.

The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is to make sure he never knows he's in prison.

Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth.

If you wish to glimpse inside a human soul and get to know a man ... just watch him laugh. If he laughs well, he's a good man.

Learning to love is hard and we pay dearly for it. It takes hard work and a long apprenticeship, for it is not just for a moment that we must learn to love, but forever.

People speak sometimes about the "bestial" cruelty of man, but that is terribly unjust and offensive to beasts, no animal could ever be so cruel as a man, so artfully, so artistically cruel.

It is better to be unhappy and know the worst, than to be happy in a fool's paradise.

Nothing is easier than to denounce the evildoer; nothing is more difficult than to understand him.

I think the devil doesn't exist, but man has created him, he has created him in his own image and likeness.

Don’t be overwise; fling yourself straight into life, without deliberation; don’t be afraid - the flood will bear you to the bank and set you safe on your feet again.

The most offensive is not their lying - one can always forgive lying - lying is a delightful thing, for it leads to truth - what is offensive is that they lie and worship their own lying.

All that really matters isto feel alive, if only for a single moment –to feel in Intense Sensationthat our existence is not an endless repetitionof sleeping, eating, drinking, and dressing.

More often, one decision can change the entire course of a life.

When fear meets fear nothing good every happens.

Where love is, there God is also.

Everything was quiet, as if the silence was listening.

When perfectionism is driving us, shame is riding shotgun and fear is that annoying backseat driver!

That's because you loved me. You just didn't know it yet." "You didn't know it either. You were just as blind as me.

It often happens that a player is so fond of his advantageous position that he is reluctant to transpose to a winning endgame.

Russians aren't good at haggling, they aren't passionate about business. But they are outstanding fighters.