Power is given only to him who dares to stoop and take it ... one must have the courage to dare.

The absurd is only too necessary on earth. The world stands on absurdities.

"I love mankind," he said, "but I find to my amazement that the more I love mankind as a whole, the less I love man in particular."

He was one of the numerous and varied legion of dullards, of half-animated abortions, conceited, half-educated coxcombs, who attach themselves to the idea most in fashion only to vulgarize it and who caricature every cause they serve, however sincerely.

The Russian soul is a dark place.

Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.

It's the great mystery of human life that old grief passes gradually into quiet tender joy.