I can say without affectation that I belong to the Russian convict world no less than I do to Russian literature. I got my education there, and it will last forever.

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.

As the fathers live, so the children play.

The thoughts of a prisoner - they're not free either. They keep returning to the same things.

People who are at ease with their consciences always look happy.

Was it Gorky who had said, "If your children are no better than you are, you have fathered them in vain, indeed you have lived in vain".

Only the first swath cut by the scythe is difficult.