Take what you can yourself, and don’t let others get you into their hands; to belong to oneself, that is the whole thing in life.
IVAN TURGENEVLove, I thought, is stronger than death or the fear of death. Only by it, by love, life holds together and advances.
More Ivan Turgenev Quotes
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So long as one’s just dreaming about what to do, one can soar like an eagle and move mountains, it seems, but as soon as one starts doing it one gets worn out and tired.
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No 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.
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I do not know what the heart of a bad man is like. But i do know what the heart of a good man is like. And it is terrible.
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I’ve become convinced that every person should treat himself strictly and even rudely and distrustfully; it’s difficult to tame the beast in oneself.
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People without firmness of character love to make up a fate for themselves; that relieves them of the necessity of having their own will and of taking responsibility for themselves.
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Illness isn’t the only thing that spoils the appetite.
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A poet must be a psychologist, but a secret one: he should know and feel the roots of phenomena but present only the phenomena themselves in full bloom or as they fade away.
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We sit in the mud and reach for the stars.
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I believe love produces a certain flowering of the whole personality which nothing else can achieve.
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To desire and expect nothing for oneself and to have profound sympathy for others is genuine holiness.
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Love isn’t actually a feeling at all–it’s an illness, a certain condition of body and soul…. Usually it takes possession of someone without his permission, all of a sudden, against his will–just like cholera or a fever.
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I don’t see why it’s impossible to express everything that’s on one’s mind.
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What did I hope for, what did I expect, what rich future did I foresee, when the phantom of my first love, rising up for an instant, barely called forth one sigh, one mournful sentiment?
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Whatever man prays for, he prays for a miracle. Every prayer reduces itself.
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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 TURGENEV






