A real gentleman, even if he loses everything he owns, must show no emotion. Money must be so far beneath a gentleman that it is hardly worth troubling about.

It’s not God that I don’t accept, Alyosha, only I most respectfully return him the ticket.

But try getting blindly carried away by your feelings, without reasoning, without a primary cause, driving consciousness away at least for a time; start hating, or fall in love, only so as not to sit with folded arms.

I wanted to fathom her secrets; I wanted her to come to me and say: "I love you," and if not that, if that was senseless insanity, then...well, what was there to care about? Did I know what I wanted? I was like one demented: all I wanted was to be near her, in the halo of her glory, in her radiance, always, for ever, all my life. I knew nothing more!

You ache with it all; and the more mysterious it is, the more you ache.

It's in the homes of spiteful old widows that one finds such cleanliness.

My friends, God is necessary for me if only because he is the one being who can be loved eternally.