I've been reading reviews of my stories for twenty-five years, and can't remember a single useful point in any of them, or the slightest good advice. The only reviewer who ever made an impression on me was Skabichevsky, who prophesied that I would die drunk in the bottom of a ditch.

Brevity - the sister of talent.

The happy man only feels at ease because the unhappy bear their burden in silence. Without this silence, happiness would be impossible.

A writer is not a confectioner, a cosmetic dealer, or an entertainer.

The time has come for writers, especially those who are artists, to admit that in this world one cannot make anything out, just as Socrates once admitted it, just as Voltaire admitted it.

It always seems to the brothers and the father that their brother or son didn't marry the right person.

The world is, of course, nothing but our conception of it.