The more conscious I was of goodness and of all that was 'sublime and beautiful,'the more deeply I sank into my mire and the more ready I was to sink in it altogether.

Destroy my desires, eradicate my ideals, show me something better, and I will follow you.

Sometimes we desire absolute nonsense because in our stupidity we see in this nonsense the easiest way of attaining some conjectural good.

For all is like an ocean, all flows and connects; touch it in one place and it echoes at the other end of the world.

Put away your gods and come and worship ours, or we will kill you and your gods!

An artist must know the reality he is depicting in its minutest detail. In my opinion we have only one shining example of that - Count Leo Tolstoy.

... you simply can't imagine what men will say!