Useless pursuits and conversations always about the same things absorb the better part of one's time, the better part of one's strength, and in the end there is left a life grovelling and curtailed, worthless and trivial, and there is no escaping or getting away from it—just as though one were in a madhouse or prison.

Please, understand that your life is bad and dreary!

I should think I'm going to be a perpetual student.

There is nothing new in art except talent.

Perhaps the feelings that we experience when we are in love represent a normal state. Being in love shows a person who he should be.

Dear, sweet, unforgettable childhood!

Anna Petrovna (to Shabelsky): You can't make a simple joke without an injection of venom. You are a poisonous man. Joking apart, Count, you're very poisonous. It's hideously boring to live with you. You're always grumpy, complaining, you find everyone bad, good for nothing. Tell me frankly, Count, did you ever speak well of anyone?