“You will not become a saint through other people’s sins.”

I kept thinking how marvellous it would be if I could somehow tear my heart, which felt so heavy, out of my chest.

My own experience is that once a story has been written, one has to cross out the beginning and the end. It is there that we authors do most of our lying.

In short stories it is better to say not enough than to say too much, because, because–I don’t know why.

It’s not a matter of old or new forms; a person writes without thinking about any forms, he writes because it flows freely from his soul.

The aim of fiction is absolute and honest truth.

Write, write, write-till your fingers break.

The role of the artist is to ask questions, not answer them.

A woman can become a man’s friend only in the following stages – first an acquantaince, next a mistress, and only then a friend.

You must trust and believe in people or life becomes impossible.

Everyone has the same God; only people differ.

It is easy to be a philosopher in academia, but it is very difficult to be a philosopher in life.

When a person is born, he can embark on only one of three roads of life: if you go right, the wolves will eat you; if you go left, you’ll eat the wolves; if you go straight, you’ll eat yourself.

If in the first act you introduce a gun, by the third act you have to use it.

If our life has a meaning, an aim, it has nothing to do with our personal happiness, but something wiser and greater.

There are plenty of good people, but only a very, very few are precise and disciplined.

People should be beautiful in every way – in their faces, in the way they dress, in their thoughts, and in their innermost selves.