Circumstances define us; they force us onto one road or another, and then they punish us for it.
Ivan TurgenevYou may live a long while with some people and be on friendly terms with them and never speak openly with them from your soul.
Ivan TurgenevBehind me there are already so many memories (...) Lots of memories, but no point in remembering them, and ahead of me a long, long road with nothing to aim for ... I just don't want to go along it.
Ivan TurgenevLove isn't actually a feeling at all--it's an illness, a certain condition of body and soul.... Usually it takes possession of someone without his permission, all of a sudden, against his will--just like cholera or a fever.
Ivan Turgenev