all large cities are alike at night.

Moscow seethes and bubbles and gasps for air. It's always thirsting for something new, the newest events, the latest sensation. Everyone wants to be the first to know. It's the rhythm of life today.

The one good thing about not seeing you is that I can write you letters.

When you have once gained sight, it is impossible to feign blindness.

As a result of half a century of Soviet rule people have been weaned from a belief in human kindness.

I like old people, just as I like old trees: in their shadow there is freshness and peace, one admires them, and around them everything is so calm.

It became clear to the whole world that a totalitarian regime could neither accuse nor transform itself: suicide was not in its nature, it could only kill others.

History is a stern judge.

It is human nature that rules the world, not governments and regimes.

Go to meet destiny halfway and destiny will come to your assistance.

God grants an easy death only to the just.

Don't be scared to try and fail

Bad divorce?" Hardy asked, his gaze falling to my hands. I realized I was clutching my purse in a death grip.“No, the divorce was great, ” I said. “It was the marriage that sucked.

Whatever I'm doing, I try to give it everything.

But the divinest poem, or the life of a great man, is the severest satire.... The greater the genius, the keener the edge of the satire.

All the great captains have performed vast achievements by conforming with the rules of art--by adjusting efforts to obstacles.

The ACLU sees the separation of church and state as so absolute that not a single religious word must be allowed to pass a schoolhouse door.

Julian Assange shouldn't be the subject of a grand jury hearing, he should be given a medal. He's contributing to democracy.

The world is so full of a number of things, I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings.

Contrary to what we've been told, children can detect deceit in parents much easier than parents can detect deceit in children.