Boris Akunin > Quotes

“Одинок полет
Светлячка в ночи.
Но в небе - звезды.
"В чем же смысл интуитивно возникшего во мне трехстишья? Человек - одинокий светлячок в бескрайнем мраке ночи. Свет его так слаб, что освещает лишь крошечный кусочек пространства, а вокруг лишь холод, тьма и страх. Но если отвести испуганный взгляд от находящейся внизу темной земли и посмотреть ввысь (всего-то и надо - повернуть голову!), то увидишь, что небо покрыто звездами. Они сияют ровным, ярким и вечным светом. Звезды - твои друзья, они помогут и не бросят в беде. А чуть позже ты понимаешь другое, не менее важное: светлячок - тоже звезда, такая же, как все остальные. Те, что в небе, тоже видят твой свет, и он помогает им вынести холод и мрак Вселенной.
Наверное, моя жизнь не изменится. Я буду такой же, как прежде, - и суетный, и вздорный, и подверженный страстям. Но в глубине моей души будет жить достоверное знание. Оно спасет и поддержит меня в трудную минуту. Я больше не мелкая лужа, которую может расплескать по земле сильный порыв ветра. Я - океан, и буря, прокатившись всесокрушающим цунами по моей поверхности, не затронет сокровенных моих глубин.”
― Boris Akunin, Murder on the Leviathan

“I pay my teachers very well, because pedagogy is the most important of all the sciences,”
― Boris Akunin, The Winter Queen

“Сколь велика разница между тем, каков ты есть на самом деле, и тем, как тебя видят другие люди.”
― Boris Akunin, Внеклассное чтение

“К сожалению, Варвара Андреевна, государство - это не д-дом, а скорее дерево. Его не строят, оно растет само, подчиняясь закону природы, и дело это долгое. Тут не каменщик, т-тут садовник нужен. (Б. Акунин, Турецкий гамбит, с. 80)”
― B. Akunin

“В мире столько вещей более важных, чем уязвлённое самолюбие, ревность или несчастная любовь! Например, стремление к правде и справедливости. Нравственная чистота. Самопожертвование во имя справедливости.”
― Борис Акунин

“Почти всякому человеку хочется себя как-то возвысить. Цзюнцзы, благородный муж, для этого стремится стать выше. Человек мелкий, сяожэнь, норовит увеличить свой рост, принижая окружающих. ... Сяожэнь мал ростом. Поэтому он может выглядеть великим, только если все вокруг простерлись ниц, а худший враг для маленького правителя - тот, кто отказывается пресмыкаться на брюхе.”
― Борис Акунин, Черный город

“Из всех наслаждений, отпущенных человеку, самое изысканное — шевелить мозгами.”
― Борис Акунин

“I read somewhere that it’s called American roulette. It was invented in America, in the goldfields. You put a single shot in the cylinder, give it a twirl, and then—bang! If you’re lucky you break the bank; if not, then it’s good-bye”
― Boris Akunin, The Winter Queen

“Gentlemen living after me!     Since you are reading this little letter of mine, I have already departed from you and gone on to learn the secret of death, which remains concealed from your eyes behind seven seals. I am free, while you must carry on living in torment and fear.”
― Boris Akunin, The Winter Queen

“He used to be a German, but he completely recovered.”
― Boris Akunin, Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog

“It is a well-known fact that the farther one travels from the capital, the nearer one approaches to God.”
― Boris Akunin, Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog

“For every taxpayer, no matter who he is, establish a single tax, not too great, which is known in advance and collectable immediately from all payments, deliveries, transactions, and income. And this tribute must not exceed one tenth part, because the holy church has tested this since ancient times and learned from its own rich experience that a man will agree to pay a tenth part of his wealth, but no more, not even out of fear of our Father in Heaven. And this means that there is no point in tempting him.”
― Boris Akunin, Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog

“Yakov Mikhailovich, as we have already said, believed fervently in the power of the human intellect. There are no insoluble problems, only incompetent problem solvers.”
― Boris Akunin, Sister Pelagia and the Red Cockerel

“He knew the way he spoke wasn't right, but it was the only way the words came. The thoughts in his head were precise and clear, their meaning was absolutely obvious. But when they emerged in the form of phrases, the superfluous husk simply fell away of its own accord and only the essential idea was left. Probably sometimes rather more fell away than ought to.”

Excerpt From
EF06 - The State Counsellor”
― Boris Akunin

“She can't go into public care,” he explained. “She'd pine away. The poor simpleton is far too used to me.” That was when Fandorin really astounded him. “I envy you,” he said, sighing. “You're a fortunate man, Tulipov. At such a young age you already have reason to respect yourself—something you can be proud of. The Lord has given you a firm center for the whole of your life.”
― Boris Akunin, Special Assignments

“Be so kind as not to Frenchify. It really is a stupid habit to stick half of a French phrase into Russian speech,” Zurov said irritably, glancing around at the speaker, although he himself interpolated French expressions now and again.”
― Boris Akunin, The Winter Queen

“Что-то нравитесь вы мне, больно хорошо молчите.”
― Boris Akunin, The Winter Queen

“The titular counselor buttoned up his collar and replied seriously: “If you live in a state, you should either ch-cherish it or leave it—anything else is either parasitism or mere lackeys’ gossip.”
― Boris Akunin, The Turkish Gambit

“The double-headed eagle that serves the Russian Empire as its crest illustrates quite magnificently the entire system of government of that country, where any matter of even the slightest importance is not entrusted to a single authority but at least two,”
― Boris Akunin, The Turkish Gambit

“Благородному мужу только кажется, что у него есть выбор. На самом деле выбора никогда нет”
― Boris Akunin, Черный город

“Так скоро граждане из рабов не происходят.”
― Boris Akunin, Внеклассное чтение

“After all, what is sin? It is an action through which a person betrays his dignity.”
― Boris Akunin, Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog

“What a shot! Now tell me Zurov wastes his time making holes in five-kopeck pieces! From forty paces straight into the back of the head, and you have to take the poor light into account.”
― Boris Akunin, The Winter Queen

“Чем у человек больше уважение, тем больше вокруг люди.”
― Борис Акунин, Черный город

“God has no need of cold people.”
― Boris Akunin, Special Assignments

“Че човек е самотна светулка в безкрайната тъмнина на нощта.Светлината му е толкова слаба, че огрява микроскопична част от пространството, а наоколо е студ, мрак и страх.Но ако отместиш поглед от тъмната земя там долу и погледнеш към висините (само толкова се иска - да обърнеш глава!), ще видиш, че небето е цялото в звезди.Те сияят с равна, ярка и вечна светлина.Не си самотен в мрака....Онези, които са на небето, виждат твоята светлина и тя им помага да понесат студа и мрака на Вселената.”
― Boris Akunin, Murder on the Leviathan

“and in any case his attention was distracted by another object that was sparkling cheerfully where it lay in the middle of the road. Erast Fandorin did not realize what it was for a moment. The only thought that came to him was that the ground was definitely no place for that. Then he recognized it: a gold ring glittering on the third finger of a slim girl’s arm severed at the elbow. THE FOPPISHLY DRESSED but terribly slovenly young man stumbled along Tverskoi Boulevard with rapid, erratic steps, paying no attention to anyone—expensive crumpled frock coat, dirty white tie, dusty white carnation in his buttonhole.”
― Boris Akunin, The Winter Queen

“When money is the cornerstone of everything, it is the end of genuine art! You have given me this rose and, of course, it is beautiful. But you are mistaken when you say that it is alive! It died as soon as you condemned it to this golden captivity! It was transformed into the mummified corpse of a flower! It is the same with your cinematograph. The theatre is life! And like all life, it is instantaneous and unrepeatable. There will never be another moment exactly the same, it cannot be halted, and that is why it is beautiful. You Fausts, who dream of halting a beautiful moment, fail to grasp that beauty cannot be recorded, it will die immediately. That is what the play we acted today is about! You must understand, Andrei Gordeevich, that eternity and immortality are the enemies of art, I am afraid of them! A play may be good or bad, but it is alive. A film is a fly in amber. Exactly as if it were alive, only it is dead. I shall never, do you hear, never act in front of that box of yours with its big glass eye!’ God, how lovely she was at that moment”
― Boris Akunin, All The World's A Stage: Erast Fandorin 11

“I think that there is genius hidden in everyone, a little hole through which God is visible,” Pelagia began to explain. “But it is rare for anyone to discover this opening in themselves. Everybody gropes for it like blind kittens, but they keep missing. If a miracle occurs, then someone realizes straightaway that this is what he came into the world for, and after that he lives with a calm confidence and cannot be distracted by anybody else, and that is genius. But talents are encountered far more frequently. They are people who have not found that little magic window, but are close to it and are nourished by the reflected glow of its miraculous light.”
― Boris Akunin, Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog

“Скорей только шайтан бегает. Все хороший медленно ходит.”
― Борис Акунин, Черный город