Quotes by Ivan Turgenev

You are an old pig!one of them said to the other. And that is worse than being a young one.

A mans capable of understanding anything - how the ether vibrates, and whats going on in the sun - but how any other man can blow his nose differently from him, that hes incapable of understanding.

And was it his destined part / Only one moment in his life / To be close to your heart?

It seemed to us that all people to a greater or lesser degree belong to one of these two types, that almost every one of us resembles either Don Quixote or Hamlet.

O youth! youth! you go your way heedless, uncaring – as if you owned all the treasures of the world; even grief elates you, even sorrow sits well upon your brow. You are self-confident and insolent and you say, I alone am alive – behold! even while your own days fly past and vanish without trace and without number, and everything within you melts away like wax in the sun .. like snow .. and perhaps the whole secret of your enchantment lies not, indeed, in your power to do whatever you may will, but in your power to think that there is nothing you will not do: it is this that you scatter to the winds – gifts which you could never have used to any other purpose. Each of us feels most deeply convinced that he has been too prodigal of his gifts – that he has a right to cry, Oh, what could I not have done, if only I had not wasted my time.

O youth! youth! you have no concerns, you possess, as it were, all the treasures of the universe, even grief is a comfort to you, even sadness suits your looks, you are self-assured and bold, you say: Look, Im the only one alive! while the very days of your life run away and vanish without a trace and without number and everything in you disappears like wax, like snow in the hear of the sun... And perhaps the entire et of your charm consists not in the possibility of doing everything, but in the possibility of thinking perhaps it consists precisely in the fact that you want only to scatter on the wind energies that you wouldnt know how to use for anything else, perhaps it consists in the fact that each one of us seriously regards himself as a spendthrift and seriously considers that he has the right to say: Oh, the things I could have done if only I hadnt wasted my time!

O youth! youth! you have no concerns, you possess, as it were, all the treasures of the universe, even grief is a comfort to you, even sadness suits your looks, you are self-assured and bold, you say: Look, Im the only one alive! while the very days of your life run away and vanish without a trace and without number and everything in you disappears like wax, like snow in the heat of the sun... And perhaps the entire secret of your charm consists not in the possibility of doing everything, but in the possibility of thinking you can do everything, perhaps it consists precisely in the fact that you want only to scatter on the wind energies that you wouldnt know how to use for anything else, perhaps it consists in the fact that each one of us seriously regards himself as a spendthrift and seriously considers that he has the right to say: Oh, the things I could have done if only I hadnt wasted my time!

thats all the stars do, look at lovers – thats why theyre so beautiful

To be young and not to know how, is bearable; to be old and not have the strength, is too great a weight to carry. And whats is so painful you cant sense your powers leaving you. Its hard for an old man to ensure such blows!

Ah, but in time the heat of noontide passes, and to it there succeed nightfall and dusk, with a return to the quiet fold where for the weary an the heavy-laden there waits sleep, sweet sleep.

Nezhdanovs heart began to beat violently and he lowered his eyes involuntarily. This girl, who had fallen in love with a homeless wretch like him, who trusted him, who was ready to follow him, to go with him towards one and the same goal — this wonderful girl — Marianna — at that moment was, for Nezhdanov, the embodiment of everything good and just on earth; the embodiment of that love, that of a family, sister or wife, which he had not experienced; the embodiment of homeland, happiness, struggle and freedom.

Its no good writing if God hasnt given you talent. People will just laugh.

Woe to the heart that has not loved in youth!

Weak people never put an end to things themselves. They always wait for the end.

Sentimental outbreaks are like liquorice; when first you suck it, its not bad, but afterwards it leaves a very nasty taste in the mouth.

was coming to that troubled twilight time, a time of regrets that resemble hopes, of hopes that resemble regrets, when youth is past but old age has not yet come.

People without firmness of character love to make up a fate for themselves that relieves them of the necessity of having their own will and of taking responsibility for themselves.

Who among us has the strength to oppose petty egoism, those petty good feelings, pity and remorse?

Time sometimes flies like a bird, sometimes crawls like a snail; but a man is happiest when he does not even notice whether it passes swiftly or slowly.

Women... cant live with em... cant shoot em.