I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence. I wanted excitement and danger and the chance to sacrifice myself for my love.

Woman is generally so bad that the difference between a good and a bad woman scarcely exists.

Stepan Arkadyevitch had not chosen his political opinions or his views; these political opinions and views had come to him of themselves, just as he did not choose the shapes of his hat and coat, but simply took those that were being worn.

India, which is the nursery of the great faiths of the world

the same question arose in every soul: "For what, for whom, must I kill and be killed?"... p982

Music makes me forget myself, my true condition, it carries me off into another state of being, one that isn't my own: under the influence of music I have the illusion of feeling things I don't really feel, of understanding things I don't understand, being able to do things I'm not able to do... Can it really be allowable for anyone who feels like it to hypnotize another person, or many other persons, and then do what he likes with them? Particularly if the hypnotist is the first unscrupulous individual who happens to come along?

There are such repulsive faces in the world.