Whether one showed you and execution or a little finger, you would extract an equally edifying thought from both of them, and would still be content. That's the way to get on in life.

[to Jesus] You did not come down from the cross when they shouted to you, mocking and reviling you: "Come down from the cross and we will believe that it is you." You did not come down because, again, you did not want to enslave man by a miracle and thirsted for faith that is free, not miraculous...I swear, man is created weaker and baser than you thought him! How, how can he ever accomplish the same things as you? ...Respecting him less, you would have demanded less of him, and that would be closer to love, for his burden would be lighter.

I walked along Nevsky Avenue.Actually it was more torture, humiliation, and bilious irritation than a stroll.

I can see the sun, but even if I cannot see the sun, I know that it exists. And to know that the sun is there - that is living.

There is nothing easier than lopping off heads and nothing harder than developing ideas.

To love someone means to see him as God intended him.

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