I am told that the proximity of punishment arouses real repentance in the criminal and sometimes awakens a feeling of genuine remorse in the most hardened heart; I am told this is due to fear.

Catch several hares and you won't catch one.

It is easier for a Russian to become an atheist than for anyone else in the world.

Wealth is the number of things one can do without.

Deprived of meaningful work, men and women lose their reason for existence; they go stark, raving mad.

'Ever seen a leaf - a leaf from a tree?' 'Yes.' I saw one recently - a yellow one, a little green, wilted at the edges. Blown by the wind. When I was a little boy, I used to shut my eyes in winter and imagine a green leaf, with veins on it, and the sun shining ...' 'What's this - an allegory?' "No; why? Not an allegory - a leaf, just a leaf. A leaf is good. Everything's good.'

To love another person is to see them as God intended them to be.