My whole life has been pledged to this meeting with you.

Play interests me very much," said Hermann: "but I am not in the position to sacrifice the necessary in the hope of winning the superfluous.

I do not like Moscow life. You live here not as you want to live, but as old women want you to.

Moral maxims are surprisingly useful on occasions when we can invent little else to justify our actions.

A deception that elevates us is dearer than a host of low truths.

But even friendship like our heroes' Exist no more; for we've outgrown All sentiments and deem men zeroes-- Except of course ourselves alone. We all take on Napoleon's features, And millions of our fellow creatures Are nothing more to us than tools... Since feelings are for freaks and fools. Eugene, of course, had keen perceptions And on the whole despised mankind, Yet wasn't, like so many, blind; And since each rule permits exceptions, He did respect a noble few, And, cold himself, gave warmth its due.

Cabbage soup and barley. They're Russia's national food. Both excellent in their way, but a shade monotonous.