If we look far into the future, one can see a time in the 21st century when both Europe and the USA will be in dire need of Russia as an ally.

What is an optimist? The man who says, "It's worse everywhere else. We're better off than the rest of the world. We've been lucky." He is happy with things as they are and he doesn't torment himself. What is a pessimist? The man who says, "Things are fine everywhere but here. Everyone else is better off than we are. We're the only ones who've had a bad break." He torments himself continually.

... but it is human to be outraged by injustice, even to the point of courting destruction!

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

Anything too far out of tune with our attitude is lost, either in the ears themselves or somewhere beyond, but it is lost.

I am of course confident that I will fulfill my tasks as a writer in all circumstances - from my grave even more successfully and more irrefutably than in my lifetime.

As the old proverb says: "Well-fed horses don't rampage.