Since man cannot live without miracles, he will provide himself with miracles of his own making. He will believe in witchcraft and sorcery, even though he may otherwise be a heretic, an atheist, and a rebel.
It’s curious and ridiculous how much the gaze of a prudish and painfully chaste man touched by love can sometimes express and that precisely at a moment when the man would of course sooner be glad to fall through the earth than to express anything with a word or a look.
We are citizens of eternity.
A cultivated and decent man cannot be vain without setting a fearfully high standard for himself, and without despising and almost hating himself at certain moments.
I feel pity for him, and that is a poor sign of love.
What is the use of Christ’s words, unless we set an example?
Everything passes, only truth remains.
How good life is when one does something good and just!
But do you understand, I cry to him, do you understand that if you have the guillotine in the forefront, and with such glee, it’s for the sole reason that cutting heads off is the easiest thing, and having an idea is difficult!
People with new ideas, people with the faintest capacity for saying something new, are extremely few in number, extraordinarily so, in fact.
I will put up with any mockery rather than pretend that I am satisfied when I am hungry.
Man, do not pride yourself on your superiority to the animals, for they are without sin, while you, with all your greatness, you defile the earth wherever you appear and leave an ignoble trail behind you – and that is true, alas, for almost every one of us!
It is not as a child that I believe and confess Jesus Christ. My hosanna is born of a furnace of doubt.
It is man’s unique privilege, among all other organisms. By pursuing falsehood you will arrive at the truth!
For all is like an ocean, all flows and connects; touch it in one place and it echoes at the other end of the world.
Ah, Misha, he has a stormy spirit. His mind is in bondage. He is haunted by a great, unsolved doubt. He is one of those who don’t want millions, but an answer to their questions.
Russians alone are able to combine so many opposites in themselves at one and the same time.
The chief thing is to love others likeyourself, that’s the chief thing, and that’s everything; nothing else is wanted – you will find out at once how to arrange it all.
In order to love simply, it is necessary to know how to show love.
You will have many enemies, but even your foes will love you. Life will bring you many misfortunes, but you will find your happiness in them, and will bless life and will make others bless it-which is what matters most.