The government, the state, they're just objects of jokes rather than serious consideration. I can't possibly take them seriously.
I always adhered to the idea that God is time, or at least that His spirit is.
There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.
Every life has a file, if you will.
Out of Dostoevsky: Kafka. Out of Tolstoy: Margaret Mitchell. (in conversation, explaining his dislike for Tolstoy)
Persecution mania is still around. In your writing, in your exchanges with people, meeting people who are in Russian affairs, Russian literature, etcetera.