With one hand I take thousands of rubles from the poor, and with the other I hand back a few kopecks.

Freethinkers are those who are willing to use their minds without prejudice and without fearing to understand things that clash with their own customs, privileges, or beliefs. This state of mind is not common, but it is essential for right thinking.

Some mathematician said that pleasure lies not in discovering the truth but in searching for it.

We must not only cease our present desire for the growth of the state, but we must desire its decrease, its weakening.

Upon meeting, you're judged by your clothes, upon parting you're judged by your wits.

We call beauty that which supplies us with a particular pleasure.

I'd rather end up wishing I hadn’t than end up wishing I had.