If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin.
We sit in the mud my friend and reach for the stars.
Take for yourself what you can, and don’t be ruled by others; to belong to oneself – the whole savour of life lies in that.
Oh, sweet emotions, gentle harmony, goodness and peace of the softened heart, melting bliss of the first raptures of love, where are they, where are they?
Toda mi vida ha sido una espera del inevitable encuentro contigo.
I do not know what the heart of a bad man is like. But I do know what the heart of a good man is like. And it is terrible.
Death’s an old joke, but each individual encounters it anew.
Looking about me, listening and recalling what the day had been like, I suddenly felt a secret unease in my heart and raised my eyes to the sky, but even in the sky there seemed to be no tranquillity. Dotted with stars, it constantly quivered and danced and shivered.
In my case there was no first love. I began with the second.
We Russians have assigned ourselves no other task in life but the cultivation of our own personalities, and when we’re barely past childhood, we set to work to cultivate them, those unfortunate personalities.
I look up to heaven only when I want to sneeze.
Take what you can yourself, and don’t let others get you into their hands; to belong to oneself, that is the whole thing in life.
Love, I thought, is stronger than death or the fear of death. Only by it, by love, life holds together and advances.
Go forward while you can, but if your strength fails you, sit down near the road and gaze without anger or envy at those who pass by. They don’t have far to go, either.