Sternly, remorselessly, fate guides each of us; only at the beginning, when we’re absorbed in details, in all sorts of nonsense, in ourselves, are we unaware of its harsh hand.
IVAN TURGENEVTime, as is well known, sometimes flies like a bird and sometimes crawls like a worm, but human beings are generally particularly happy when they don’t notice whether it’s passing quickly or slowly.
More Ivan Turgenev Quotes
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Circumstances define us; they force us onto one road or another, and then they punish us for it.
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I share no man’s opinions; I have my own.
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All human beings hang by a thread, an abyss may open under their feet at any moment, and yet they have to go and invent all sorts of difficulties for themselves and spoil their lives.
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He was the soul of politeness to everyone — to some with a hint of aversion, to others with a hint of respect.
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Nothing is worse and more hurtful than a happiness that comes too late. It can give no pleasure, yet it deprives you of that most precious of rights – the right to swear and curse at your fate!
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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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The past was a dream wasn’t it? And who ever remembers dreams?
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I am a flirt: I have no heart: I have an actor’s nature.
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There is a sweetness in being the sole source, the autocratic and irresponsible cause of the greatest joy and profoundest pain to another.
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A son is like a lopped off branch. As a falcon he comes when he wills and goes where he lists.
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In my case there was no first love. I began with the second.
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A person who gets angry at his own illness is sure to overcome it.
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What a magnificent body, how I should like to see it on the dissecting table.
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I was as happy as a fish in water, and I could have stayed in that room for ever, have never left that place.
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However much you knock at nature’s door, she will never answer you in comprehensible words.
IVAN TURGENEV