In our village, folks say God crumbles up the old moon into stars.

That which is called humanism, but what would be more correctly called irreligious anthropocentrism, cannot yield answers to the most essential questions of our life

You get no thanks from your belly-it always forgets what you've just done for it and comes begging again the next day.

The strength or weakness of a society depends more on the level of its spiritual life than on its level of industrialization. Neither a market economy nor even general abundance constitutes the crowning achievement of human life. If a nation's spiritual energies have been exhausted, it will not be saved from collapse by the most perfect government structure or by any industrial development. A tree with a rotten core cannot stand.

We never know beforehand how new posts or new work will change us.

Violence can only be concealed by a lie, and the lie can only be maintained by violence.

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.