You say: I am not free. But I have raised and lowered my arm. Everyone understands that this illogical answer is an irrefutable proof of freedom.

War is not courtesy but the most horrible thing in life; and we ought to understand that, and not play at war. We ought to accept this terrible necessity sternly and seriously. It all lies in that: get rid of falsehood and let war be war and not a game.

In Varenka, she realized that one has but to forget oneself and love others, and one will be calm, happy, and noble.

And once he had seen this, he could never again see it otherwise, just as we cannot reconstruct an illusion once it has been explained.

Not all of life's roads are set fast, for a man may do this or a man may do that and not even the gods know the mind of a man.

But that's just the aim of civilization - to make everything a source of enjoyment.

I ask one thing only: I ask for the right to hope, to suffer as I do. But if even that cannot be, command me to disappear, and I disappear. You shall not see me if my presence is distasteful to you.