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Explore 83 quotes originally in Russian

As you pass from the tender years of youth into harsh and embittered manhood, make sure you take with you on your journey all the human emotions! Don't leave them on the road, for you will not pick them up afterwards!

Nikolai Gogol

Dead Souls

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Topic

Growing up Emotions

Author

Nikolai Gogol

Source

Dead Souls

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Advice

Language

Russian

Time

1842 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Gogol, Nikolai. Мёртвые души [Dead Souls]. 1842, pt. 1, ch. 6.

Current Citation

Gogol, Nikolai. Dead Souls, translated Robert A. Maguire. Penguin Classics, 2004, pt. 1, ch. 6.

A woman's love for us increases
The less we love her, sooth to say-
She stoops, she falls, her struggling ceases;
Caught fast, she cannot get away.

Alexander Pushkin

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Topic

Relationship challenges Love

Author

Alexander Pushkin

Source

Eugene Onegin

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

Russian

Time

1837 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Pushkin, Alexander. Евгеній Онѣгинъ, романъ въ стихахъ [Eugene Onegin, A Novel in Verse]. St. Petersburg: Alexandr Smirdin, 1833, ch. 4.

Current Citation

Pushkin, Alexander. Eugene Onegin, translated by James E. Falen. Oxford University Press, 2009, ch. 4.

Everything's got a price, bitch.

John Wick

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Topic

Prices Capitalism

Speaker

Iosef Tarasov

Actor

Alfie Allen

Source

John Wick

Medium

Film

Genre

Neo-noir Action (film) Action

Language

Russian

Time

2014 2010s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

John Wick. Directed by Chad Stahelski, Thunder Road Pictures/87Eleven Productions/MJW Films/DefyNite Films, 2014.

Heretics are the only bitter remedy against the entropy of human thought.

Yevgeny Zamyatin

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Topic

Thinking for oneself Orthodoxy Innovation Heretics Progress

Author

Yevgeny Zamyatin

Source

On Literature, Revolution, Entropy and Other Matters

Medium

Essay

Genre

Political literature Philosophical literature

Language

Russian

Time

1923 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Citation

Zamyatin, Yevgeny. "On Literature, Revolution, Entropy and Other Matters." A Soviet Heretic, translated by Mirra Ginsburg. University of Chicago Press, 1970. Originally published in 1923.

Where force is necessary, there it must be applied boldly, decisively and completely. But one must know the limitations of force; one must know when to blend force with a maneuver, a blow with an agreement.

Leon Trotsky

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Topic

Carrots and sticks Political power Politics

Author

Leon Trotsky

Source

What Next?

Medium

Essay

Genre

Political literature

Language

Russian

Time

1932 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Trotsky, Leon. What Next? Vital Questions for the German Proletariat. Pioneer Publishers, 1932, ch. 14.

You only have power over people as long as you don't take everything away from them. But when you've robbed a man of everything he's no longer in your power-he's free again.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

In the First Circle

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Topic

Nothing to lose Freedom Oppression Desperation Liberation

Author

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Source

In the First Circle

Medium

Novel

Genre

Political literature

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

Russian

Time

1968 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Solzhenitsyn, Aleksander. В круге первом [In the First Circle]. Collins & Harvill Press/‎Harper & Row, 1968, ch. 17.

The astonishing thing is not that so many of us went to concentration camps or died there, but that some us survived. Caution did not help. Only chance could save you.

Nadezhda Mandelstam

Hope Abandoned

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Topic

The gulag Soviet Union

Author

Nadezhda Mandelstam

Source

Hope Abandoned

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

Russian

Time

1972 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Mandelstam, Nadezhda. Hope Abandoned. Collins & Harvill Press/Atheneum Books, ch. 6.

Departure beyond the borders of my country is for me equivalent to death.

Boris Pasternak

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Topic

Travel

Author

Boris Pasternak

Medium

Letter

Language

Russian

Time

1958 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Pasternak, Boris. Letter to Nikita Khrushchev. 30 Oct. 1958.

The only substitute for an experience we ourselves have never lived through is art, literature.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Nobel Prize Lecture

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Topic

Power of art Power of literature

Author

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Source

Nobel Prize Lecture

Medium

Speech

Language

Russian

Time

1972 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr. Nobel Lecture in Literature. 1970, Swedish Academy, Stockholm, Sweden.

Respect was invented to cover the empty place where love should be.

Leo Tolstoy

Anna Karenina

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Topic

Relationships Lack of love

Speaker

Anna Karenina

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.

If you look for perfection, you'll never be content.

Leo Tolstoy

Anna Karenina

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Topic

Perfectionism

Speaker

Natalia

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.

Spring is the time of plans and projects.

Leo Tolstoy

Anna Karenina

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Topic

Spring Seasons

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.

There are no conditions of life to which a man cannot get accustomed, especially if he sees them accepted by everyone about him.

Leo Tolstoy

Anna Karenina

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Topic

Adaptability Man as social animal Human nature

Author

Leo Tolstoy

Source

Anna Karenina

Medium

Novel

Language

Russian

Time

1877 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

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.

Worst of all I fear mediocrity.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

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Topic

Fear Mediocrity Self-doubt

Author

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Source

Letters of Fyodor Dostoevsky

Medium

Letter

Language

Russian

Time

1867 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. Letter to Sofya Ivanova. c. 29 Sept. 1867.

Current Citation

Dostoevsky, Fyodor. "Letter to Sofya Ivanova, ca. September 29, 1867." Fyodor Dostoevsky: Complete Letters: 1860-1867, edited and translated by David A. Lowe, Ardis, 1989.

Our body is a machine for living. It is organized for that, it is its nature. Let life go on in it unhindered and let it defend itself, it will do more than if you paralyze it by encumbering it with remedies.

Leo Tolstoy

War and Peace

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Topic

Human body

Author

Leo Tolstoy

Source

War and Peace

Medium

Novel

Language

Russian

Time

1869 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

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.

In despair there are the most intense enjoyments, especially when one is very acutely conscious of the hopelessness of one's position.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Notes from the Underground

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Topic

Hopelessness and despair Pleasure

Author

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Source

Notes from the Underground

Medium

Novel

Language

Russian

Time

1865 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. Записки изъ подполья [Notes from Underground]. Epoch, Jan-Apr. 1864.

Current Citation

Dostoevsky, Fyodor. "Notes from the Underground." Notes from the Underground and The Double, translated by Ronald Wilks. Penguin Classics, 2009.

Keep your clothes neat and tidy; it gives you self-confidence and composure in your bearings.

Leo Tolstoy

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Topic

Clothes make the man Dressing well Clothing Confidence

Author

Leo Tolstoy

Source

Journals of Leo Tolstoy

Medium

Personal journal

Statement Type

Advice

Language

Russian

Time

1854 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Tolstoy, Leo. Tolstoy's Diaries, edited and translated by R. F. Christian. Vol. 1, Faber and Faber, 2010. Originally diary entry, 6 Jan. 1854.

There can be only one permanent revolution-a moral one.

Leo Tolstoy

More information about this quote

Topic

Moral progress Revolution Morality

Author

Leo Tolstoy

Source

Three Methods of Reform

Medium

Essay

Language

Russian

Time

1900 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Tolstoy, Leo. "Three Methods of Reform." Pamphlets: Translated from the Russian. Free Age Press, 1900.

Women can't forgive failure.

Anton Chekhov

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Topic

Men and women Women

Speaker

Konstantin Gavrilovich Treplev

Author

Anton Chekhov

Source

The Seagull

Medium

Play

Language

Russian

Time

1896 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Chekhov, Anton. Чайка [The Seagull]. 17 Oct. 1896, Alexandrinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, Russia, act. 2.

Current Citation

Chekhov, Anton. "The Seagull." Plays, translated by Peter Carson. Penguin, 2002, act 2.

All newspaper and journalistic activity is an intellectual brothel from which there is no retreat.

Leo Tolstoy

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Topic

Newspapers Media Media criticism

Author

Leo Tolstoy

Medium

Letter

Language

Russian

Time

1871 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Tolstoy, Leo. Letter to Prince V. P. Meshchersky. 22 Aug. 1871.

Current Citation

Tolstoy, Leo. Tolstoy's Letters: 1828-1879, translated and edited by R. F. Christian. Vol. 1, University of London The Athlone Press, 1978.