“They destroy lives with work. What for? They rob men of their lives. What for, I ask? My master—I lost my life in the textile mill of Nefidov—my master presented one prima donna with a golden wash basin. Every one of her toilet articles was gold. That basin holds my life-blood, my very life. That's for what my life went! A man killed me with work in order to comfort his mistress with my blood. He bought her a gold wash basin with my blood.”

“Only mothers can think of the future - because they give birth to it in their children.”

“Happiness always looks small while you hold it in your hands, but let it go, and you learn at once how big and precious it is.”

“When one loves somebody everything is clear - where to go what to do - it all takes care of itself and one doesn't have to ask anybody about anything.”

“Every new time will give its law.”

“Happiness always looks small while you hold it in your hands but let it go and you learn at once how big and precious it is.”

“Happiness always looks small while you hold it in your hands but let it go and you learn at once how big and precious it is.”

“To an old man any place that's warm is homeland.”

“All of us are pilgrims on this earth. I have even heard it said that the earth itself is a pilgrim in the heavens.”

“Like some wondrous birds out of fairy tales, books sang their songs to me and spoke to me as though communing with one languishing in prison; they sang of the variety and richness of life, of man’s audacity in his strivings towards goodness and beauty.”

“Our existence has always and everywhere been tragic, but man has converted these numberless tragedies into works of art. I know of nothing more astonishing or more wonderful than this transformation.”