Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
The government is not God. It does not have the right to take away that which it can't return even if it wants to.
The thirst for powerful sensations takes the upper hand both over fear and over compassion for the grief of others.
Only during hard times do people come to understand how difficult it is to be master of their feelings and thoughts.
If our life has a meaning, an aim, it has nothing to do with our personal happiness, but something wiser and greater.
You ask me what life is. That's like asking what a carrot is. A carrot is a carrot, and there's nothing more to know.
They say philosophers and wise men are indifferent. Wrong. Indifference is a paralysis of the soul, a premature death.
Oh, dreams! In one night, lying with one's eyes shut, one may sometimes live through more than ten years of happiness.
I have no will of my own. Never did. Limp and lily-livered, I always obey - is it possible that's attractive to women?
Reason and justice tell me there's more love for humanity in electricity and steam than in chastity and vegetarianism.
When men ask me how I know so much about men, they get a simple answer: everything I know about men, I learned from me.
Death is terrifying, but it would be even more terrifying to find out that you are going to live forever and never die.
I don’t understand anything about the ballet; all I know is that during the intervals the ballerinas stink like horses.
There is no national science, just as there is no national multiplication table; what is national is no longer science.
What seems to us serious, significant and important will, in future times, be forgotten or won't seem important at all.
I divide all literary works into two categories: Those I like and those I don't like. No other criterion exists for me.
It's even pleasant to be sick when you know that there are people who await your recovery as they might await a holiday.
Neither I nor anyone else knows what a standard is. We all recognize a dishonorable act, but have no idea what honor is.
There are in life conjunctions of circumstances when the reproach that we are not Voltaires is least of all appropriate.
Life does not agree with philosophy: There is no happiness that is not idleness, and only what is useless is pleasurable.
In displaying the psychology of your characters, minute particulars are essential. God save us from vague generalizations!
I don't like being successful; the subjects which sit in my head are annoyed and jealous of what has already been written.
There is something beautiful, touching and poetic when one person loves more than the other, and the other is indifferent.
If there's any illness for which people offer many remedies, you may be sure that particular illness is incurable, I think.
Do silly things. Foolishness is a great deal more vital and healthy than our straining and striving after a meaningful life.
Oh, I have now a mania for shortness. Whatever I read - my own or other people's works - it all seems to me not short enough.
Not one of our mortal gauges is suitable for evaluating non-existence, for making judgments about that which is not a person.
To harbor spiteful feelings against ordinary people for not being heroes is possible only for narrow-minded or embittered man.
A good upbringing means not that you won't spill sauce on the tablecloth, but that you won't notice it when someone else does.
My love is like a stone tied round my neck; it's dragging me down to the bottom; but I love my stone. I can't live without it.
Doctors are the same as lawyers; the only difference is that lawyers merely rob you, whereas doctors rob you and kill you too.
Humankind has understood history as a series of battles because, to this day, it regards conflict as the central facet of life.
To describe drunkenness for the colorful vocabulary is rather cynical. There is nothing easier than to capitalize on drunkards.
A woman can become a man's friend only in the following stages - first an acquantaince, next a mistress, and only then a friend.
Life is difficult for those who have the daring to first set out on an unknown road. The avant-garde always has a bad time of it.
What's the use of talking? You can see for yourself that this is a barbarous country; the people have no morals; and the boredom!
This life of ours...human life is like a flower gloriously blooming in a meadow: along comes a goat, eats it up---no more flower.
One must never place a loaded rifle on the stage if it isn't going to go off. It's wrong to make promises you don't mean to keep.
In countries where there is a mild climate, less effort is expended on the struggle with nature and man is kinder and more gentle.
People should be beautiful in every way - in their faces, in the way they dress, in their thoughts, and in their innermost selves.
You confuse two things: solving a problem and stating a problem correctly. It is only the second that is obligatory for an artist.
Doctors are just the same as lawyers; the only difference is that lawyers merely rob you, whereas doctors rob you and kill you too.
In descriptions of nature one must seize on small details, grouping them so that when the reader closes his eyes he gets a picture.
If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there.
Country acquaintances are charming only in the country and only in the summer. In the city in winter they lose half of their appeal.
Let us learn to appreciate there will be times when the trees will be bare, and look forward to the time when we may pick the fruit.
If you wish women to love you be original; I know a man who used to wear felt boots summer and winter & women fell in love with him.
Perhaps the feelings that we experience when we are in love represent a normal state. Being in love shows a person who he should be.
I've never been in love. I've dreamt of it day and night, but my heart is like a fine piano no one can play because the key is lost.
All the great sages are as despotic as generals, and as ignorant and as indelicate as generals, because they feel secure of impunity.
The happy man only feels at ease because the unhappy bear their burden in silence. Without this silence, happiness would be impossible.