If we could all take a sober look at our history, then we would no longer see this nostalgic attitude to the Soviet past that predominates among the less affected part of our society.
The thoughts of a prisoner – they’re not free either. They keep returning to the same things.
Anything too far out of tune with our attitude is lost, either in the ears themselves or somewhere beyond, but it is lost.
You can resolve to live your life with integrity. Let your credo be this: Let the lie come into the world, let it even triumph. But not through me.
I have grown used to the fact that public repentance is the most unacceptable option for the modern politician.
Education doesn’t make you smarter.
In our country the lie has become not just a moral category but a pillar of the State.
To do evil a human being must first of all believe that what he’s doing is good.
One world, one mankind cannot exist in the face of six, four or even two scales of values: We shall be torn apart by this disparity of rhythm, this disparity of vibrations.
There is something predetermined in the mutual attraction between Germany and Russia. Otherwise, this attraction would not have survived two ghastly World Wars.
A hard life improves the vision.
If we look far into the future, one can see a time in the 21st century when both Europe and the USA will be in dire need of Russia as an ally.
We particularly like people who value us highly.
The task of the artist is to sense more keenly than others the harmony of the world, the beauty and the outrage of what man has done to it, and poignantly to let people know.
Each person has his special moment of life when he unfolded himself to the fullest, felt to the deepest, and expressed himself to the utmost, to himself and to others.
When Russia started to regain some of its strength as an economy and as a state, the West’s reaction – perhaps a subconscious one, based on erstwhile fears – was panic.
That which is called humanism, but what would be more correctly called irreligious anthropocentrism, cannot yield answers to the most essential questions of our life.
If one is forever cautious, can one remain a human being?
Only those who decline to scramble up the career ladder are interesting as human beings. Nothing is more boring than a man with a career.
It’s a universal law – intolerance is the first sign of an inadequate education. An ill-educated person behaves with arrogant impatience, whereas truly profound education breeds humility.