A work of art contains its verification in itself: artificial, strained concepts do not withstand the test of being turned into images; they fall to pieces, turn out to be sickly and pale, convince no one. Works which draw on truth and present it to us in live and concentrated form grip us, compellingly involve us, and no one ever, not even ages hence, will come forth to refute them.

When things are too clear, they are no longer interesting.

Generosity is a two-edged virtue for an artist - it nourishes his imagination but has a fatal effect on his routine.

If decade after decade the truth cannot be told, each person's mind begins to roam irretrievably. One's fellow countrymen become harder to understand than Martians.

... scientists have made no clear effort to become an important, independently active force of mankind. Whole congresses at a time, they back away from the suffering of others; it is more comfortable to stay within the bounds of science.

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

... that maxim of Descartes: "Question everything!" Question everything!