In nature a repulsive caterpillar turns into a lovely butterfly. But with human beings it is the other way round: a lovely butterfly turns into a repulsive caterpillar.

The more refined one is, the more unhappy.

I confess I seldom commune with my conscience when I write.

Man has been endowed with reason, with the power to create, so that he can add to what he's been given. But up to now he hasn't been a creator, only a destroyer. Forests keep disappearing, rivers dry up, wild life's become extinct, the climate's ruined and the land grows poorer and uglier every day.

I have the feeling that I've seen everything, but failed to notice the elephants.

They say philosophers and wise men are indifferent. Wrong. Indifference is a paralysis of the soul, a premature death.

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