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.

During my time in the camps, I had got to know the enemies of the human race quite well: they respect the big fist and nothing else; the harder you slug them, the safer you will be.

The less you speak, the more you will hear.

Only an extraordinary person can turn opportunity into reality.

After all, man is a complicated being, why should he be explainable by logic?

The secret is that when you've been pitched head first into hell you just write about it

I refuse to see literature as amusement, as a game. I think that you ought not to approach literature without a moral responsibility for every word you write.