I swear fearfully at the conventions of the stage.

And I despise your books, I despise wisdom and the blessings of this world. It is all worthless, fleeting, illusory, and deceptive, like a mirage. You may be proud, wise, and fine, but death will wipe you off the face of the earth as though you were no more than mice burrowing under the floor, and your posterity, your history, your immortal geniuses will burn or freeze together with the earthly globe.

One usually dislikes a play while writing it, but afterward it grows on one. Let others judge and make decisions.

Never bring a cannon on stage in Act I unless you intend to fire it by the last act.

If ever my life can be of any use to you, come and claim it.

To believe in God is not hard. Inquisitors, Byron and Arakcheev believed in Him. No, believe in man!

Nothing lulls and inebriates like money; when you have a lot, the world seems a better place than it actually is.