And so it turned out that only a life similar to the life of those around us, merging with it without a ripple, is genuine life, and that an unshared happiness is not happiness.

A corner draft fluttered the flame And the white fever of temptation Upswept its angel wings that cast A cruciform shadow.

If you want to know, life is the principle of self-renewal, it is constantly renewing and remaking and changing and transfiguring itself.

What is laid down, ordered, factual is never enough to embrace the whole truth: life always spills over the rim of every cup.

And remember: you must never, under any circumstances, despair. To hope and to act, these are our duties in misfortune.

Mother Russia is on the move, she can't stand still, she's restless and can't find rest, she's talking and she can't stop.

As before the collapse, the setting sun brushed the tiles, brought out the warm brown glow on the wallpaper, and hung the shadow of the birch on the wall as if it were a woman's scarf.