Every human act can be disguised with a coating of gilt.

It's not the sea that drowns you-it's the puddle.

I have always insisted on the need for local self-government for Russia, but I never opposed this model to Western democracy. On the contrary, I have tried to convince my fellow citizens by citing the examples of highly effective local self-government systems in Switzerland and New England, both of which I saw first-hand.

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

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.

A great disaster had befallen Russia: Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.

One can build the Empire State Building, discipline the Prussian army, make a state hierarchy mightier than God, yet fail to overcome the unaccountable superiority of certain human beings.