The more refined one is, the more unhappy.

The desire to serve the common good must without fail be a requisite of the soul, a necessity for personal happiness; if it issuesnot from there, but from theoretical or other considerations, it is not at all the same thing.

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.

Art, especially the stage, is an area where it is impossible to walk without stumbling. There are in store for you many unsuccessful days and whole unsuccessful seasons: there will be great misunderstandings and deep disappointments… you must be prepared for all this, expect it and nevertheless, stubbornly, fanatically follow your own way.

The snow has not yet left the earth but spring is already asking to enter your heart.

Just as I shall lie alone in the grave, so, in essence, do I live alone.

A good upbringing means not that you won't spill sauce on the tablecloth, but that you won't notice it when someone else does.