38 quotes
Russian writer, publicist, poet and politician (1918–2008)
“The line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.”
"The battleline between good and evil runs through the heart of every man."
on Ethics
"The meaning of earthly existence lies not, as we have grown used to thinking, in prospering but in the development of the soul."
on Life
"in order to do evil, must first believe that what they are doing is good, otherwise they can't do it."
"We always pay dearly for chasing after what is cheap."
on Wisdom
"A genius doesn't adjust his treatment of a theme to a tyrant's taste"
"Thus it is that no cruelty whatsoever passes by without impact. Thus it is that we always pay dearly for chasing after what is cheap."
"If one is forever cautious can one remain a human being?"
on Philosophy
"For a country to have a great writer is to have another government."
on Writing
"When you have robbed a man of everything he is no longer in your power. He is free again."
on Freedom
"Human beings are born with different capacities. If they are free, they are not equal. And if they are equal, they are not free."
"Everything you add to the truth subtracts from the truth."
on Truth
"For a country to have a great writer is like having a second government. That is why no regime has ever loved great writers, only minor ones."
"The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the lie. "One word of truth outweighs the world."
on Courage
"Unlimited power in the hands of limited people always leads to cruelty."
on Power
"Freedom or prison--what's the difference? A man must develop unwavering will power subject only to his reason."
"Talent is always conscious of its own abundance, and does not object to sharing."
"Only those who decline to scramble up the career ladder are interesting as human beings. Nothing is more boring than a man with a career."
on Career
"Someone that you have deprived of everything is no longer in your power. He is once again entirely free."
"No one can bar the road to truth and to advance its cause I'm ready to accept even death."
"A state of war only serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny."
on Government
