The past was a dream wasn’t it? And who ever remembers dreams?
IVAN TURGENEVThe past was a dream wasn’t it? And who ever remembers dreams?
IVAN TURGENEVTake 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 TURGENEVIt was only the vulgarly mediocre that repelled her.
IVAN TURGENEVIn days of doubt, in days of dreary musings on my country’s fate, you alone are my comfort and support, oh great, powerful, righteous, and free Russian language!
IVAN TURGENEVAll 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.
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.
IVAN TURGENEVI am a flirt: I have no heart: I have an actor’s nature.
IVAN TURGENEVWhat’s important is that twice two is four and all the rest’s nonsense.
IVAN TURGENEVDeath’s an old joke, but each individual encounters it anew.
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 TURGENEVOh, gentle feelings, soft sounds, the goodness and the gradual stilling of a soul that has been moved; the melting happiness of the first tender, touching joys of love- where are you?
IVAN TURGENEVGreat God, grant that twice two be not four.
IVAN TURGENEVEveryone needs help from everyone else.
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 TURGENEVIf we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin.
IVAN TURGENEVNothing 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!
IVAN TURGENEV