A well-thought-out story doesn’t need to resemble real life. Life itself tries with all its might to resemble a well-crafted story.

For me the whole world is like a gigantic theater in which I am the only spectator without opera glasses. The orchestra plays the prelude to the third act, the stage is far away as in a dream, my heart swells with delight—and you want to blind me with a pair of half-ruble spectacles?

No iron can stab the heart with such force as a period put just at the right place.

There is no iron that can enter the human heart with such stupefying effect, as a period placed at just the right moment.

A well-thought-out story doesn’t need to resemble real life. Life itself tries with all its might to resemble a well-crafted story.

No iron spike can pierce a human heart as icily as a period in the right place.

When a phrase is born, it is both good and bad at the same time. The secret of its success rests in a crux that is barely discernible. One's fingertips must grasp the key, gently warming it. And then the key must be turned once, not twice.