I never started from ideas but always from character.
IVAN TURGENEVI never started from ideas but always from character.
IVAN TURGENEVA 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.
IVAN TURGENEVNothing is worse and more hurtful than a happiness that comes too late.
IVAN TURGENEVGo forward while you can, but if your strength fails you, sit down near the road and gaze without anger or envy at those who pass by. They don’t have far to go, either.
IVAN TURGENEVIt’s all romanticism, nonsense, rottenness, art.
IVAN TURGENEVSo 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.
IVAN TURGENEVI’m through with Tolstoy. He has ceased to exist for me…. If I eat a bowl of soup and like it, I know by that fact alone and with absolute certainty that Tolstoy will find it bad, and vice versa.
IVAN TURGENEVGo and try to disprove death. Death will disprove you, and that’s all!
IVAN TURGENEVDon’t force me into saying what I don’t want to say, and what I won’t say.
IVAN TURGENEVIf we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin.
IVAN TURGENEVEven nightingales can’t be fed on fairy tales.
IVAN TURGENEVThere are some moments in life, some feelings; one can only point to them and pass by.
IVAN TURGENEVWhat 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?
IVAN TURGENEVEveryone needs help from everyone else.
IVAN TURGENEVYouth 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.
IVAN TURGENEVWhat’s important is that twice two is four and all the rest’s nonsense.
IVAN TURGENEV