I've never been in love. I've dreamt of it day and night, but my heart is like a fine piano no one can play because the key is lost.

Lying is the same as alcoholism. Liars prevaricate even on their deathbeds.

Do you remember you shot a seagull? A man came by chance, saw it and destroyed it, just to pass the time.

A tree is beautiful, but what's more, it has a right to life; like water, the sun and the stars, it is essential. Life on earth is inconceivable without trees. Forests create climate, climate influences peoples' character, and so on and so forth. There can be neither civilization nor happiness if forests crash down under the axe, if the climate is harsh and severe, if people are also harsh and severe. ... What a terrible future!

A woman can become a man's friend only in the following stages - first an acquantaince, next a mistress, and only then a friend.

When describing nature, a writer should seize upon small details, arranging them so that the reader will see an image in his mind after he closes his eyes. For instance: you will capture the truth of a moonlit night if you'll write that a gleam like starlight shone from the pieces of a broken bottle, and then the dark, plump shadow of a dog or wolf appeared. You will bring life to nature only if you don't shrink from similes that liken its activities to those of humankind.

Calculating selfishness is the annihilation of self.