I was not born to amuse the Tsars.

Don't be sad, don't be angry, if life deceives you! Submit to your grief - your time for joy will come, believe me.

With womankind, the less we love them, the easier they become to charm.

Sad that our finest aspiration, Our freshest dreams and meditations, In swift succession should decay, Like Autumn leaves that rot away.

To love all ages yield surrender; But to the young it's raptures bring A blessing bountiful and tender- As storms refresh the fields of spring.

I’ve lived to bury my desires, And see my dreams corrode with rust; Now all that’s left are fruitless fires That burn my empty heart to dust.

Ecstasy is a glass full of tea and a piece of sugar in the mouth.