A woman can become a man's friend only in the following stages - first an acquantaince, next a mistress, and only then a friend.
The past,' he thought, 'is linked with the present by an unbroken chain of events flowing one out of another.' And it seemed to him that he had just seen both ends of that chain; that when he touched one end the other quivered.
Какие пустяки, какие глупые мелочи иногда приобретают в жизни значение, вдруг ни с того ни с сего. По-прежнему смеёшься над ними, считаешь пустяками, и всё же идешь и чувствуешь, что у тебя нет сил остановиться.
These people have learned not from books, but in the fields, in the wood, on the river bank. Their teachers have been the birds themselves, when they sang to them, the sun when it left a glow of crimson behind it at setting, the very trees, and wild herbs.
Science and art,... they seek the truth and the meaning of life, they seek God, [and] the soul, and when they are harnessed to passing needs and activities,... then they only complicate and encumber life.
Dear and most respected bookcase! I welcome your existence, which has for over one hundred years been devoted to the radiant ideals of goodness and justice.
His reading suggested a man swimming in the sea among the wreckage of his ship, and trying to save his life by greedily clutching first at one spar and then at another.
The University brings out all abilities, including incapability.
When an actor has money he doesn't send letters, he sends telegrams.
To advise is not to compel.
If you are afraid of loneliness, do not marry.
Life does not agree with philosophy: There is no happiness that is not idleness, and only what is useless is pleasurable.
We shall find peace. We shall hear angels, we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds.
No matter how corrupt and unjust a convict may be, he loves fairness more than anything else. If the people placed over him are unfair, from year to year he lapses into an embittered state characterized by an extreme lack of faith.
I promise to be an excellent husband, but give me a wife who, like the moon, will not appear every day in my sky.
Let us learn to appreciate there will be times when the trees will be bare, and look forward to the time when we may pick the fruit.
Faith is an aptitude of the spirit. It is, in fact, a talent: you must be born with it.
There is nothing new in art except talent.
When a woman isn't beautiful, people always say, 'You have lovely eyes, you have lovely hair.'
You must trust and believe in people or life becomes impossible.