Russia

Explore 97 quotes by people from Russia

Man must work by the sweat of his brow whatever his class, and that should make up the whole meaning and purpose of his life and happiness and contentment.

Anton Chekhov

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Topic

Work Purpose of life

Speaker

Irina Sergeyevna Pozorova

Author

Anton Chekhov

Source

The Three Sisters

Medium

Play

Language

Russian

Time

1901 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Chekhov, Anton. Три сeстры́ [Three Sisters]. Directed by Knostatin Stanislavski and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko. 31 Jan. 1901, Moscow Art Theatre, Moscow, Russia, act 1.

Current Citation

Chekhov, Anton. "Three Sisters." Plays: Ivanov; The Seagull' Uncle Vanya; Three Sisters; The Cherry Orchard, translated by Peter Carson. Penguin Classics, 2002, act 1.

The guilt of Stalin and his immediate entourage before the Party and the people for the mass repressions and lawlessness they committed is enormous and unforgivable.

Mikhail Gorbachev

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Topic

Stalin Soviet Union Cold War

Speaker

Mikhail Gorbachev

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

Russian

Time

1987 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Gorbachev, Mikhail. Speech on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. 2 Nov. 1987, Moscow, Russia.

Anarchism, then, really, stands for the liberation of the human mind from the dominion of religion; the liberation of the human body from the dominion of property; liberation from the shackles and restraints of government.

Emma Goldman

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Topic

Anarchism Political ideology Politics

Author

Emma Goldman

Medium

Essay

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1910 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Goldman, Emma. "Anarchism: What It Really Stands For." Anarchism and Other Essays. Mother Earth Publishing Association, 1910.

If anyone believes that our smiles involve abandonment of the teaching of Marx, Engels and Lenin he deceives himself. Those who wait for that must wait until a shrimp learns to whistle.

Nikita Khrushchev

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Topic

Soviet Union Marxism Cold War

Speaker

Nikita Khrushchev

Language

Russian

Time

1955 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Khrushchev, Nikita. Quoted in New York Times. 18 Sept. 1955. Originally an impromptu speech at a dinner for visiting West German dignitaries. 17 Sept. 1955, Moscow, Russia.

Although we read with our minds, the seat of artistic delight is between the shoulder blades. That little shiver behind is quite certainly the highest form of emotion that humanity has attained when evolving pure art and pure science. Let us worship the spine and its tingle.

Vladimir Nabokov

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Topic

Human body Pleasure of art Art

Author

Vladimir Nabokov

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Nabokov, Vladimir. Talking about the novel Bleak House. c. 1940, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA, USA. Lecture.

Current Citation

Nabokov, Vladimir. "Charles Dickens: Bleak House." Lectures on Literature, edited by Fredson Bowers. Mariner Books, 2002.

Death is like a fisherman, who, having caught a fish in his net, leaves it in the water for a time; the fish continues to swim about, but all the while the net is round it, and the fisherman will snatch it out in his own good time.

Ivan Turgenev

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Topic

Inevitability of death Nature of death Death

Author

Ivan Turgenev

Source

On the Eve

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Definition

Language

Russian

Time

1860 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Turgenev, Ivan. "Накануне [On the Eve]." The Russian Messenger, 1859.

Current Citation

Turgenev, Ivan. On the Eve, translated by Michael Pursglove. Alma Classics, 2017, ch. 35.

Providence has given human wisdom the choice between two fates: either hope and agitation, or hopelessness and calm.

Yevgeny Baratynsky

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Topic

Hope Hopelessness and despair

Author

Yevgeny Baratynsky

Source

Two Fates

Medium

Poem

Language

Russian

Time

1823 1820s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Baratynsky, Yevgeny. Two Fates. c. 1823.

Our whole economy is based on planned obsolescence.

Brooks Stevens

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Topic

Consumerism

Speaker

Brooks Stevens

Medium

Treatise

Language

English

Time

1960 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Stevens, Brooks. Quoted in The Waste Makers, by Vance Packard. Simon & Schuster, 1960, ch. 6.

I don't like people who have never fallen or stumbled. Their virtue is lifeless and it isn't of much value. Life hasn't revealed its beauty to them.

Boris Pasternak

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Topic

Overcoming obstacles Overcoming adversity Failure

Speaker

Yuri Andreievich Zhivago

Author

Boris Pasternak

Source

Doctor Zhivago (novel)

Medium

Novel

Language

Russian

Time

1958 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Pasternak, Boris. До́ктор Жива́го [Dr. Zhivago]. Feltrinelli, pt. 2, ch. 13, sect. 12.

Current Citation

Pasternak, Boris. Doctor Zhivago, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. Vintage International, 2011, pt. 2, ch. 13, sect. 12.

Live your life as though your every act were to become a universal law.

Immanuel Kant

Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals

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Topic

How to live

Author

Immanuel Kant

Source

Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Advice

Language

German

Time

1785 1780s 18th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Kant, Immanuel. Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten [Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals]. Riga: J. F. Hartknoch, 1785.

Current Citation

Kant, Immanuel. Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, translated by Mary Gregor and Jes Timmermann. Cambridge University Press, 2012.

It is the Russians' joy to drink; we cannot do without it.

Vladimir the Great

More information about this quote

Topic

Russia Drinking alcohol

Speaker

Vladimir the Great

Language

Old East Slavic

Time

1113 1110s 12th century

Era

Middle Ages

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Vladimir the Great. Quoted in The Primary Chronicle, written by Nestor. c. 1113, annal for the year 987.

Current Citation

Vladimir the Great. Quoted in The Russian Primary Chronicle: Laurentian Text, written by Nestor, translated by Samuel Hazzard Cross and Olgerd P. Sherbowitz-Wetzor. Medieval Academy of America, 2012, annal for the year 987.

Forests keep disappearing, rivers dry up, wild life's become extinct, the climate's ruined and the land grows poorer and uglier every day.

Anton Chekhov

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Topic

Environmental destruction

Speaker

Mikhail Lvovich Astrov

Author

Anton Chekhov

Source

Uncle Vanya

Medium

Play

Language

Russian

Time

1897 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Chekhov, Anton. Dyadya Vanya. 1897, act 1.

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 1.

Tolerance is the alpha and omega of a new world order.

Mikhail Gorbachev

More information about this quote

Topic

New world order Tolerance Cold War International politics Politics

Speaker

Mikhail Gorbachev

Source

Speeches of Mikhail Gorbachev

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1990 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Gorbachev, Mikhail. "The Rule of Law: Our New Frontier." 5 Sept. 1990, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA. Speech.

I agree with no man's opinions... I have some of my own.

Ivan Turgenev

Fathers and Sons

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Topic

Thinking for oneself

Speaker

Yevgény Vasílevich Bazárov

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.

Truly, I think I should go mad if it weren't for music.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

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Topic

Music

Author

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Source

Letters of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Medium

Letter

Language

Russian

Time

1877 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Illyich. Letter to Nadezhda von Meck. c. 23 Nov. 1877.

Between "God exists" and "There is no God" lies a whole enormous field which a true sage has great difficulty in crossing. But a Russian knows only one of these two extremes and the middle between them doesn't interest him, which is why he knows nothing or very little... A good man's indifference is as good as any religion.

More information about this quote

Topic

Existence of God God

Author

Anton Chekhov

Medium

Personal journal

Language

Russian

Time

1921 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Chekhov, Anton. Diary entry. c. 1885.

Current Citation

Chekhov, Anton. The Notebooks of Anton Chekhov and Reminiscences of Chekhov, translated by S. S. Koteliansky and Leonard Woolf. University Press of the Pacific, 2002.

Sociability is as much a law of nature as mutual struggle... Mutual aid is as much a law of animal life as mutual struggle.

Peter Kropotkin

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More information about this quote

Topic

Man as social animal

Author

Peter Kropotkin

Source

Mutual Aid

Language

English

Time

1902 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Kropotkin, Peter. Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution. McClure Phillips & Co./William Heinemann, 1902, ch. 1. Originally published in The Nineteenth Century, c. 1890.