Even the most broad-minded of us can embrace only that part of truth into which our own snout has blundered.

You took my freedom away a long time ago and you can't give it back because you haven't got it yourself.

The essence of life will never be captured by even the greatest of formulas.

What would things been like [in Russia] if during periods of mass arrests people had not simply sat there, paling with terror at every bang on the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but understood they had nothing to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people?

But what can you say in a letter?

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.

I insist on believing that beauty elevates human beings.