Drinking beer in a children's playground is an old Soviet tradition.

Why was is that the Light acted through lies, and the Darkness acted though the truth? Why was is that our truth proved powerless, but lies were effective? And why was the Darkness able to manage perfectly well with truth in order to do Evil?

That's the way it goes sometimes: in order to help your friends, first you have to help your enemy. Better get used to it.

The common good and the individual good rarely coincide.

If you have love in you, it's a strength. But if you are in love, it's a weakness.

A car's not the right place for showing off to a girl—the bed's the place for that. The consequences of a mistake there are more upsetting, but less tragic.

Above all, translators must be native speakers. It’s not because they speak the language better – I understand that sometimes a foreigner can learn a language better than native speakers. It has more to do with intimate knowledge of the society for which the book is being translated.