Ivan Turgenev Quotes

“Who among us has the strength to oppose petty egoism, those petty good feelings, pity and remorse?”

“He was going to hurt the people he hated, but inside he didn't feel any real sense of satisfaction. He hated them all the more for having made him feel so small, so petty and mean, which was all he felt just then. But it wasn't enough to stop him.”

“Meetings were an important means of Communist control. They left people no free time, and eliminated the private sphere. The pettiness which dominated them was justified on the grounds that prying into personal details was a way of ensuring thorough soul-cleansing. In fact, pettiness was a fundamental characteristic of a revolution in which intrusiveness and ignorance were celebrated, and envy was incorporated into the system of control.”

“If we respected only what is inevitable and has a right to be, music and poetry would resound along the streets. When we are unhurried and wise, we perceive that only great and worthy things have any permanent and absolute existence, that petty fears and petty pleasures are but the shadow of the reality. This is always exhilarating and sublime.”

“There's no room for petty grievances in politics.”

“Bit by bit, whatever you see to be petty becomes plenty.”

“Don't be afraid of failure be afraid of petty success. ”

“Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.”

“Petty minds foster petty hearts, and have the funny habit of shooting themselves in the foot.”

“If there is one realm in which it is essential to be sublime, it is in wickedness. You spit on a petty thief, but you can't deny a kind of respect for the great criminal.”