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

One must be a god to be able to tell successes from failures without making a mistake.

In all my life I never met anyone so frivolous as you two, so crazy and unbusinesslike. I tell you in plain Russian your property is going to be sold and you don't seem to understand what I say.

I still lack a political, religious and philosophical world view - I change it every month - and so I'll have to limit myself to descriptions of how my heroes love, marry, give birth, die, and how they speak.

Death is terrifying, but it would be even more terrifying to find out that you are going to live forever and never die.

I kept thinking how marvellous it would be if I could somehow tear my heart, which felt so heavy, out of my chest.

Faith is a capacity of the spirit. It is like talent: you have to be born with it