Mistakes are a great educator when one is honest enough to admit them and willing to learn from them

Freedom or prison--what's the difference? A man must develop unwavering will power subject only to his reason.

It is in the nature of the human being to seek a justification for his actions.

The heart senses who is friend and who is no friend.

Bless you prison, bless you for being in my life. For there, lying upon the rotting prison straw, I came to realize that the object of life is not prosperity as we are made to believe, but the maturity of the human soul.

Unlimited power in the hands of limited people always leads to cruelty.

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.