When one's own problems are unsolvable and all best efforts frustrated, it is lifesaving to listen to other people's problems.

To be a friend takes time, and time is what nobody has. Therefore, real friends are rare.

Russians understand the rhythm of despair.

When pain has been constant, it has its own momentum and laws. The vital thing is to break its ascendancy over the mind.

When one's own problems are unsolvable and all best efforts frustrated, it is lifesaving to listen to other people's problems.

All that the Devil asks is acquiescence.

Evil is near. Sometimes late at night the air grows strongly clammy and cold around me. I feel it brushing me. All that the Devil asks is acquiescence not struggle, not conflict. Acquiescence.