Russia

Explore 97 quotes by people from Russia

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

Leo Tolstoy

Anna Karenina

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Topic

Family dysfunction Family Parents and children

Author

Leo Tolstoy

Source

Anna Karenina

Medium

Novel

Language

Russian

Time

1877 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Tolstoy, Leo. Анна Каренина [Anna Karenina]. The Russian Messenger, 1875-1877. Serial.

Current Citation

Tolstoy, Leo. Anna Karenina, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. Penguin Classics, 2014.

Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Crime and Punishment

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Topic

Resistance to change New ideas

Speaker

Raskolnikov

Author

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Source

Crime and Punishment

Medium

Novel

Language

Russian

Time

1866 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Dostoyevsky, Feodor. Преступленіе и наказаніе [Crime and Punishment]. The Russian Messenger, Jan. 1866 - Dec. 1866, monthly serial.

Current Citation

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. Crime and Punishment, translated and edited by Michael R. Katz. W. W. Norton & Company, 2018.

Men reject their prophets and slay them, but they love their martyrs and honor those whom they have slain.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Brothers Karamazov

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Topic

Prophets Martyrs

Author

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Source

The Brothers Karamazov

Medium

Novel

Language

Russian

Time

1880 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. "Братья Карамазовы [The Brothers Karamazov]." The Russian Messenger, Jan. 1879 - Nov. 1880. Serial.

Current Citation

Dostoevsky, Feodor. The Brothers Karamazov, translated by David McDuff. Penguin Classics, 2003.

We always imagine eternity as something beyond our conception, something vast. But why must it be vast? Instead of all that, what if it’s one little room, like a bath house in the country, black and grimy and spiders in every corner, and that’s all eternity is?

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Crime and Punishment

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Topic

Eternity The afterlife

Speaker

Svidrigaïlov

Author

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Source

Crime and Punishment

Medium

Novel

Language

Russian

Time

1866 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Dostoyevsky, Feodor. Преступленіе и наказаніе [Crime and Punishment]. The Russian Messenger, Jan. 1866 - Dec. 1866, monthly serial.

Current Citation

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. Crime and Punishment, translated and edited by Michael R. Katz. W. W. Norton & Company, 2018.

Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made.

Immanuel Kant

More information about this quote

Topic

Imperfection Human nature

Author

Immanuel Kant

Source

Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Purpose

Medium

Essay

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

German

Time

1784 1780s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Kant, Immanuel. "Idee zu einer allgemeinen Geschichte in weltbürgerlicher Absicht [Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Purpose]." Berlinische Monatsschrift, Nov. 1784.

Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you.

Nikita Khrushchev

More information about this quote

Topic

Soviet Union Cold War

Speaker

Nikita Khrushchev

Statement Type

Prophecies and predictions Threat

Language

Russian

Time

1956 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Khrushchev, Nikita. Quoted in "Foreign News: We Will Bury You!" Time Magazine, 26 Nov. 1956. Originally stated while addressing western ambassadors. Reception at the Polish embassy. 18 Nov. 1956, Moscow, Russia.

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.

Vladimir Nabokov

Lolita

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Author

Vladimir Nabokov

Source

Lolita

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Opening lines Assonance

Language

English

Time

1955 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Nabokov, Vladimir. Lolita. Olympia Press, 1955, ch. 1.

If you were to destroy in mankind the belief in immortality, not only love but every living force maintaining the life of the world would at once, be dried up.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Brothers Karamazov

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Topic

Disenchanted world

Author

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Source

The Brothers Karamazov

Medium

Novel

Language

Russian

Time

1879 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. "Братья Карамазовы [The Brothers Karamazov]." The Russian Messenger, Jan. 1879 - Nov. 1880. Serial.

Current Citation

Dostoevsky, Feodor. The Brothers Karamazov, translated by David McDuff. Penguin Classics, 2003.

Art is a human activity having for its purpose the transmission to others of the highest and best feelings to which men have risen.

Leo Tolstoy

What Is Art?

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Topic

Purpose of art

Author

Leo Tolstoy

Source

What Is Art?

Medium

Essay

Statement Type

Definition

Language

Russian

Time

1897 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Tolstoy, Leo. What is Art? London: The Brotherhood Publishing Company, 1898.

Current Citation

Tolstoy, Leo. What Is Art? Translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. Penguin Classics, 1996.

"What's this? am I falling? my legs are giving way under me," he thought, and fell on his back. He opened his eyes, hoping to see how the struggle of the French soldiers with the artilleryman was ending, and eager to know whether the red-haired artilleryman was killed or not, whether the cannons had been taken or saved. But he saw nothing of all that, Above him there was nothing but the sky-the lofty sky, not clear, but still immeasurably lofty, with gray clouds creeping quietly over it.

Leo Tolstoy

War and Peace

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Topic

Dying Moment of death

Author

Leo Tolstoy

Source

War and Peace

Medium

Novel

Language

Russian

Time

1869 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Tolstoy, Leo. "Война и миръ [War and Peace]." The Russian Messenger, 1865-1867. Serial.

Current Citation

Tolstoy, Leo. War and Peace, translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude. Oxford University Press, 2010.

Man is a creature that can get used to anything, and I think that is the best definition of him.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

The House of the Dead

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Topic

Adaptability Nature of man

Author

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Source

The House of the Dead

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Definition

Language

Russian

Time

1860 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. "Записки из Мёртвого дома [The House of the Dead]." Vremya, 1860-1862.

Current Citation

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. The House of the Dead, translated by David McDuff. Penguin Classics, 1986.

We shall find peace. We shall hear the angels, we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds.

Anton Chekhov

Uncle Vanya

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Topic

Heaven The afterlife

Speaker

Sonya

Author

Anton Chekhov

Source

Uncle Vanya

Medium

Play

Language

Russian

Time

1898 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Chekhov, Anton. Dyadya Vanya. 1897, act 4.

Current Citation

Chekhov, Anton. "Uncle Vanya." Plays: Ivanov; The Seagull' Uncle Vanya; Three Sisters; The Cherry Orchard, translated by Peter Carson. Penguin Classics, 2002, act 4.

But perhaps the universe is suspended on the tooth of some monster.

Anton Chekhov

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of the universe The universe

Author

Anton Chekhov

Medium

Personal journal

Language

Russian

Time

1904 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Chekhov, Anton. Personal notebook entry. c. 1904.

When a man spends the least possible number of movements over one definite action, that is grace.

Anton Chekhov

More information about this quote

Topic

Grace

Author

Anton Chekhov

Medium

Letter

Statement Type

Definition

Language

Russian

Time

1899 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Chekhov, Anton. Letter to Alexi Peshkov (Maxim Gorky). 3 Jan. 1899.

Current Citation

Chekhov, Anton. "To Alexi Peshkov (Gorky), 3 January 1899, Yalta." A Life in Letters, translated by Rosamund Bartlett and Anthony Phillips. Penguin Classics, 2004.

The vague, crepuscular time; the time of regrets that resemble hopes, of hopes that resemble regrets, when youth has passed, but old age has not yet arrived.

Ivan Turgenev

Fathers and Sons

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Topic

Middle age

Author

Ivan Turgenev

Source

Fathers and Sons

Medium

Novel

Language

Russian

Time

1862 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Turgenev, Ivan. "Отцы и дети [Fathers and Sons]." The Russian Messenger, 1862.

Current Citation

Turgenev, Ivan. Fathers and Sons, translated by Richard Freeborn. Oxford University Press, 2008.

If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

The Gulag Archipelago

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Topic

Duality of man Good and evil

Author

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Source

The Gulag Archipelago

Genre

Political literature Historical literature

Language

Russian

Time

1973 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr. Архипелаг ГУЛАГ, Arkhipelag GULAG [The Gulag Archipelago: An Experiment in Literary Investigation]. Vol. 1, YMCA-Press, 1973.

I decided it is better to scream. This pitiful sound, which sometimes, goodness knows how, reaches into the remotest prison cell, is a concentrated expression of the last vestige of human dignity. It is a man's way of leaving a trace, of telling people how he lived and died. By his screams he asserts his right to live, sends a message to the outside world demanding help and calling for resistance. If nothing else is left, one must scream. Silence is the real crime against humanity.

Nadezhda Mandelstam

Hope Against Hope

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Topic

Soviet Union

Author

Nadezhda Mandelstam

Source

Hope Against Hope

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

Russian

Time

1970 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Mandelstam, Nadezhda. Hope Against Hope. The Chekov Press/Atheneum, 1970, ch. 11.

A society based on the letter of the law and never reaching any higher fails to take advantage of the full range of human possibilities. The letter of the law is too cold and formal to have a beneficial influence on society. Whenever the tissue of life is woven of legalistic relationships, this creates an atmosphere of spiritual mediocrity that paralyzes man’s noblest impulses.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

More information about this quote

Topic

Legalism Laws of physics

Speaker

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Medium

Speech

Genre

Commencement address

Language

English

Time

1978 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Solzhenitsyn, Alexander I. "A World Split Apart." Commencement cermony. 8 June 1978, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.

The strongest of all warriors are these two-Time and Patience.

Leo Tolstoy

War and Peace

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Topic

Time Patience

Speaker

Prince Mikhail Kutúzov

Author

Leo Tolstoy

Source

War and Peace

Medium

Novel

Language

Russian

Time

1869 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Tolstoy, Leo. "Война и миръ [War and Peace]." The Russian Messenger, 1865-1867. Serial.

Current Citation

Tolstoy, Leo. War and Peace, translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude. Oxford University Press, 2010.

Rummaging in our souls, we often dig up something that ought to have lain there unnoticed.

Leo Tolstoy

Anna Karenina

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Topic

Self-discovery Introspection

Speaker

Alexei Alexandrovich

Author

Leo Tolstoy

Source

Anna Karenina

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

Russian

Time

1877 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Tolstoy, Leo. Анна Каренина [Anna Karenina]. The Russian Messenger, 1875-1877. Serial.

Current Citation

Tolstoy, Leo. Anna Karenina, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. Penguin Classics, 2014.