Love the animals. God has given them the rudiments of thought and joy untroubled. Don't trouble it, don't harass them, don't deprive them of their happiness, don't work against God's intent.

It suddenly seemed to me that I was lonely, that every one was forsaking me and going away from me. Of course, any one is entitled to ask who "every one" was. For though I had been living almost eight years in Petersburg I had hardly an acquaintance. But what did I want with acquaintances? I was acquainted with all Petersburg as it was.

A cultivated and decent man cannot be vain without setting a fearfully high standard for himself, and without despising and almost hating himself at certain moments.

But yet I am firmly persuaded that a great deal of consciousness, every sort of consciousness, in fact, is a disease.

They have this social justification for every nasty thing they do!

Intelligence alone is not nearly enough when it comes to acting wisely.

Above all, don't lie to yourself.