The days on which one has been the most inquisitive are among the days on which one has been happiest.

Mystery lies over the sea. Every ship is bound for Thule.

A cat is only technically an animal, being divine.

Chekhov will seek out the key situation in the life of a cabman or a charwoman, and make them glow for a brief moment in the tender light of his sympathy.

The days on which one has been the most inquisitive are among the days on which one has been happiest.

We cannot get happiness by striving after it, and yet with an effort we can impart it.

When one has praised Turgenev, however, for the beauty of his character and the beautiful truth of his art, one remembers that he, too, was human and therefore less than perfect. His chief failing was, perhaps, that of all the great artists, he was the most lacking in exuberance. That is why he began to be scorned in a world which rated exuberance higher than beauty or love or pity.