To struggle against censorship, whatever its nature, and whatever the power under which it exists, is my duty as a writer, as are calls for freedom of the press. I am a passionate supporter of that freedom, and I consider that if any writer were to imagine that he could prove he didn't need that freedom, then he would be like a fish affirming in public that it didn't need water.

Azazello begged her not to worry, assuring her that he had seen not only naked women but also women with their skin flayed clean off

Why try to pursue what is completed?

You are not Dostoevsky,' said the woman... 'You never can tell...' he answered. 'Dostoevsky is dead,' the woman said, a bit uncertainly. 'I protest!' he said with heat, 'Dostoevsky is immortal!

Everything will turn out right, the world is built on that.

What would your good do if evil didn't exist, and what would the earth look like if all the shadows disappeared?

the hope that there she would manage to regain her happiness made her fearless