To the feudal aristocracy and the aristocracy of the spirit, nobility derives from diametrically opposite sources. The glory of the feudal aristocrat is in being a link in the longest possible chain of ancestors. The glory of the aristocrat of the spirit is in having no ancestors - or having as few as possible. If an artist is his own ancestor, if he has only descendents, he enters history as a genius; if he has few ancestors, or is related to them distantly, he enters history as a talent.

There is no joy nobler than suffering for the sake of love for man.

The moon, our own, earthly moon is bitterly lonely, because it is alone in the sky, always alone, and there is no one to turn to, no one to turn to it. All it can do is ache across the weightless airy ice, across thousands of versts, toward those who are equally lonely on earth, and listen to the endless howling of dogs. (“A Story About The Most Important Thing”)

You're in a bad way! Apparently, you have developed a soul.

Dogma, static positions, consonance - all these are obstacles to catching the disease of art, at least in its more complex forms.

The only means of ridding man of crime is ridding him of freedom.

We need writers who fear nothing. ("Our Goal")