The chief attraction of military service has consisted and will consist in this compulsory and irreproachable idleness.

Nothing is so necessary for a young man as the company of intelligent women.

Just when the question of how to live had become clearer to him, a new insoluble problem presented itself - Death.

I can't understand how anyone can write without rewriting everything over and over again.

Great works of art are only great because they are accessible and comprehensible to everyone.

Pierre looked into the sky, into the depths of the retreating, twinkling stars. "And all this is mine, and all this is in me, and all this is me!" thought Pierre. "And all this they've caught and put in a shed and boarded it up!

excuse me' he added, taking the opera glasses out of her hands and looking over her bare shoulder at the row of boxes opposite, 'i'm afraid i'm becoming ridiculous