Literature transmits incontrovertible condensed experience... from generation to generation. In this way literature becomes the living memory of a nation.

You can resolve to live your life with integrity. Let your credo be this: Let the lie come into the world, let it even triumph. But not through me.

I am deeply convinced that God is present both in the lives of every person and also in the lives of entire nations.

Any fool can bomb a train, but just try sorting out the mess.

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

Do not pursue what is illusory - property and position: all that is gained at the expense of your nerves decade after decade, and is confiscated in one fell night. Live with a steady superiority over life - don't be afraid of misfortune, and do not yearn after happiness; it is, after all, all the same: the bitter doesn't last forever, and the sweet never fills the cup to overflowing.

A horrible human toll the Russian Orthodox Church suffered throughout almost the entire 20th century. The Church is just rising from its knees. Our young post-Soviet state is just learning to respect the Church as an independent institution.