That is what poetry can do. It speaks to us of what does not exist, which is not only better than what exists, but even more like the truth.
IVAN TURGENEVNo matter how often you knock at nature’s door, she won’t answer in words you can understand–for Nature is dumb. She’ll vibrate and moan like a violin, but you mustn’t expect a song.
More Ivan Turgenev Quotes
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What a magnificent body, how I should like to see it on the dissecting table.
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Most people can’t understand how others can blow their noses differently than they do.
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Love, I thought, is stronger than death or the fear of death. Only by it, by love, life holds together and advances.
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Even nightingales can’t be fed on fairy tales.
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What’s important is that twice two is four and all the rest’s nonsense.
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Youth eats all the sugared fancy cakes and regards them as its daily bread. But there’ll come a time when you’ll start asking just for a crust.
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I look up to heaven only when I want to sneeze.
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Belonging to oneself–the whole essence of life lies in that.
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However much you knock at nature’s door, she will never answer you in comprehensible words.
IVAN TURGENEV -
Don’t force me into saying what I don’t want to say, and what I won’t say.
IVAN TURGENEV -
Illness isn’t the only thing that spoils the appetite.
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Nature is not a temple, but a workshop, and man’s the workman in it.
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Whatever man prays for, he prays for a miracle. Every prayer reduces itself.
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There are some moments in life, some feelings; one can only point to them and pass by.
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I don’t see why it’s impossible to express everything that’s on one’s mind.
IVAN TURGENEV