Russian Quotes

“But man is a fickle and disreputable creature and perhaps, like a chess-player, is interested in the process of attaining his goal rather than the goal itself.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes from Underground, White Nights, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, and Selections from The House of the Dead

“They're professionals at this in Russia, so no matter how many Jell-O shots or Jager shooters you might have downed at college mixers, no matter how good a drinker you might think you are, don't forget that the Russians - any Russian - can drink you under the table.”
― Anthony Bourdain, A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines

“My wish for you... is that your skeptic-eclectic brain be flooded with the light of truth.”
― Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, The First Circle

“Moral maxims are surprisingly useful on occasions when we can invent little else to justify our actions.”
― Alexander Pushkin, Tales of Belkin

“In all the universe nothing remains permanent and unchanged but the spirit.”
― Anton Chekhov, The Seagull

“One should write only those books from whose absence one suffers. In short: the ones you want on your own desk.”
― Marina Tsvetaeva, Earthly Signs: Moscow Diaries, 1917–1922

“Max,' I said, looking up at him, 'I love the Russian heritage you guys are so willing to share, but I'm not so thrilled with the French.'
'What?' His brows lowered. 'We're not French.'
'Great. So the next time you feel the need to kiss me, keep your tongue out of my mouth!”
― Shannon Delany, Secrets and Shadows

“‎I was cursed with the pessimism of both the Russians and the Jews two of the gloomiest tribes in the world. Still if there wasn't greatness in me maybe I had the talent to recognize it in others even in the most irritating others.”
― David Benioff, City of Thieves

“That is the way we decided to talk, free and easy, two young men discussing a boxing match. That was the only way to talk. You couldn't let too much truth seep into your conversation, you couldn't admit with your mouth what your eyes had seen. If you opened the door even a centimeter, you would smell the rot outside and hear the screams. You did not open the door. You kept your mind on the tasks of the day, the hunt for food and water and something to burn, and you saved the rest for the end of the war.”
― David Benioff, City of Thieves

“Nemoj budit odsanjane snove, nek miruje ono čega ne bi. Odveć rano zamoren životom,samo čemer osjećam u sebi.”
― Sergej Jesenjin

“How can the confessor teach/ those who are lost and sick at heart,/ when he himself, among the sinners,/ is worst, and most forsaken?/ It is only a game we play/ with other people's sins./ Besides, everyone knows/ that everyone lies confessing.”
― Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Stolen Apples

“April was just beginning, and after the warm spring day it turned cooler, slightly frosty, and a breath of spring could be felt in the soft, cold air. The road from the convent to town was sandy, they had to go at a walking pace; and on both sides of the carriage, in the bright, still moonlight, pilgrims trudged over the sand. And everyone was silent, deep in thought, everything around was welcoming, young, so near— the trees, the sky, even the moon—and one wanted to think it would always be so.”
― Anton Chekov, Short Stories

“Now life is given in exchange for pain and fear, and that's the basis of the whole deception. Now man is still not what he should be. There will e a new man, happy and proud. Whoever doesn't care whether he lives or doesn't live, he himself will be God. And that other God will no longer be.'
'So, that other God does exist, in your opinion?'
'He doesn't exist, but he does exist. In the stone there' no pain, but in the fear of the stone there is pain. God is the pain of the fear of death. Whoever conquers pain and fear will himself become God.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky

“Because everyone is guilty for everyone else. For all the 'wee ones,' because there are little children and big children. All people are 'wee ones.' And I'll go for all of them, because there must be someone who will go for all of them.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

“У меня в Москве — купола горят!
У меня в Москве — колокола звонят!
И гробницы в ряд у меня стоят, —
В них царицы спят, и цари.

И не знаешь ты, что зарёй в Кремле
Легче дышится — чем на всей земле!
И не знаешь ты, что зарёй в Кремле
Я молюсь тебе — до зари!

И проходишь ты над своей Невой
О ту пору, как над рекой-Москвой
Я стою с опущенной головой,
И слипаются фонари.

Всей бессонницей я тебя люблю,
Всей бессонницей я тебе внемлю —
О ту пору, как по всему Кремлю
Просыпаются звонари…

Но моя река — да с твоей рекой,
Но моя рука — да с твоей рукой
Не сойдутся, Радость моя, доколь
Не догонит заря — зари.

7 мая 1916

At home in Moscow - where the domes are burning,
at home in Moscow - in the sound of bells,
where I live the tombs - in their rows are standing
and in them Tsaritsas - are asleep and tsars.

And you don't know how - at dawn the Kremlin is
the easiest place to - breathe in the whole wide earth
and you don't know when - dawn reaches the Kremlin
I pray to you until - the next day comes

and I go with you - by your river Neva
even while beside - the Moscow river
I am standing here - with my head lowered
and the line of street lights - sticks fast together.

With my insomnia - I love you wholly.
With my insomnia - I listen for you,
just at the hour throughout - the Kremlin, men
who ring the bells - begin to waken,

Still my river - and your river
still my hand - and your hand
will never join, or not until
one dawn catches up another dawning.”
― Marina Tsvetaeva, Selected Poems

“Ни одна реальность не способна долго оставаться таковой, если ты в нее не веришь.”
― Max Frei, Гнёзда химер. Хроники Овётганны

“Будь я на месте ребят из «NIKE», я бы точно сменил промо
слоган для территории России с «Just do it» на «Do something».”
― Sergey Minaev

“– Любить – не значит навсегда оставлять при себе, – улыбнулся я. – И потом, я их люблю только пока вижу. А когда не вижу – забываю.”
― Max Frei, Гнёзда химер. Хроники Овётганны

“A Spaniard and a Pole worked in the barbershop where we got our hair cut. An Italian shined our shoes. A Croat washed our car. This was America.”
― Ilya Ilf, Yevgeni Petrov

“On the Russian revolutionaries:

To leave your parents, faithful and loyal subjects of the Emperor, to leave your profession, to desist from having children, to lose your fortune, and to give up your civil honor, all for revolutionary conviction, makes for a league of more practical proof than any religious order.”
― Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy, Out of Revolution: Autobiography of Western Man

“Кто уцелел — умрёт, кто мёртв — воспрянет.
И вот потомки, вспомнив старину:
— Где были вы? — Вопрос как громом грянет,
Ответ как громом грянет: — На Дону!

— Что делали? — Да принимали муки,
Потом устали и легли на сон.
И в словаре задумчивые внуки
За словом: «долг» напишут слово: «Дон».

30 марта 1918


Those spared - will die, those fallen - rise from under.
Then come the sons, remembering days far gone: - And where were you? - the words will roll like thunder,
The answer roll like thunder: - On the Don!

- What did you do? - We bore with grief and cruelty,
Then laid us down to sleep, our last strength gone.
And in the dictionary, over Duty,
The grandsons, looking back, will write: the Don.”
― Marina Tsvetaeva, The Demesne of the Swans

“Literature, art, science, and religion degenerate when polemical struggle supplants the independent creation of ideas.”
― Semen Frank

“В принципе, какая разница, чем вгонять себя в постоянную депрессию? Работой, семейной жизнью, любовью, водкой, наркотиками?”
― Sergey Minaev

“Ага. Именно. Что день грядущий мне готовит? Одни вопросы.
Воистину, дорога кокаина с утра — шаг в неизвестность…
Я закрываю глаза. Я в Питере.”
― Sergey Minaev

“Несовпадение душ неизменное
порождает вопросы пустые,
суету дополняя душевную
объясненьями непростыми...”
― Ekaterina Yakovina, Prikosnovenie Vechnosti

“The image is of a thorn-covered branch, done in black ink, its sharp
spines pointing in all directions. Above it is a red bird in flight, its fluffy
wings spread wide. It’s beautiful and sad at the same time. I place the tip of
my finger on the design and trace the shape of the bird.
“It’s you,” Pasha says and brushes my cheek with the back of his other
hand.
“The bird?”
“Yes.”
I look up from the tattoo and find his eyes watching me. “There’s only
one bird,” I say. “Where are you?”
“I’m not there. Just you.”
“Why?”
He dips his head to whisper in my ear. “Because there was nothing left
of me after you flew away, mishka.”
― Neva Altaj, Fractured Souls

“Vera's monkey brain was "racing." She wanted someone to talk to her and to get some of her words out, but Daddy and the Seal had now switched to Russian and their conversation was growing more somber, because that's what Russian did to you. Her teacher, the other Vera, had never once smiled, even when reading the ostensibly funny book about a clumsy bear who failed to live by the complex rules of forest society and constantly needed to learn distsiplina (discipline) from his animal peers. "We can all use some more distsiplina," Teacher Vera would say. "It is what our vozhd"--or "leader"--"expects from us." Then she would show them the photograph of a man who looked like a sad but disciplined hamster in a suit in front of a tricolor flag.”
― Gary Shteyngart, Vera, or Faith

“I often wonder why iam trying so hard to win the love of a girl i have no desire to seduce and whom i would never marry.”
― Mikhail Lermontov, A Hero of Our Time

“Young”
― Russian Call " Girls - In Abu Dhabi ʘƼƼ2Ƽ22994 Hire

“К Алисе подошел Джимми.
- Привет, - сказал он. - Ты чего с мучительства сбежала? Струсила? Тебя на подвиги не возьмут, учти.
- Глупый, - вздохнула Алиса. - Ну кого это на подвиги берут? На подвиги люди сами ходят, и без разрешения.”
― Кир Булычев, Вампир Полумракс. Звездный пес