Every member of the society spies on the rest, and it is his duty to inform against them. All are slaves and equal in their slavery... The great thing about it is equality... Slaves are bound to be equal.

There are things which a man is afraid to tell even to himself, and every decent man has a number of such things stored away in his mind.

Nothing is easier than to denounce the evildoer; nothing is more difficult than to understand him.

Beggars, especially noble beggars, should never show themselves in the street; they should ask for alms through the newspapers. It's still possible to love one's neighbor abstractly, and even occasionally from a distance, but hardly ever up close.

Bad people are to be found everywhere, but even among the worst there may be something good.

I never have frustrations. The reason is to wit: Of at first I don't succeed, I quit!

Father monks, why do you fast! Why do you expect reward in heaven for that?...No, saintly monk, you try being virtuous in the world, do good to society, without shutting yourself up in a monastery at other people's expense, and without expecting a reward up aloft for it--you'll find that a bit harder.