Russian Culture Quotes

“The Russian reader in old cultured Russia was certainly proud of Pushkin and of Gogol, but he was just as proud of Shakespeare or Dante, of Baudelaire or of Edgar Allan Poe, of Flaubert or of Homer, and this was the Russian reader's strength. I have a certain personal interest in the question, for if my fathers had not been good readers, I would hardly be here today, speaking of these matters in this tongue.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, Lectures on Russian Literature

“Then there were times when Vassy compulsively yet touchingly would get very drunk and break down in great heaving sobs when we got home. No one could possibly understand what it meant to be a 'fucking Russian in America,' he sobbed. 'My fucking country, my beloved Russia,' he would cry. 'No one understands my country. You judge us, you condemn us, you believe we have swords in our teeth. You're so conditioned, so brainwashed, even more than we are. At least Russians know about America, not only bad things. And you here imagine Russia as a concentration camp! You don't like Commies! That's your problem. Now I hear Americans think 'Russian' is the same as evil, stupidity, idleness. That's dangerous! What about our culture, our music, our ingenuity, our patience, endurance--these are qualities, not drawbacks! Yes, we are fucking different, why not? Why should we be the same? Instead of trying to change each other, why don't we simply tolerate our differences and enjoy similarities?”
― Shirley MacLaine, Dancing in the Light

“Умом Россию не понять,
Аршином общим не измерить.
У ней особенная стать,
В Россию можно только верить!
Fyodor Tyutchev, Russian poet, 1803–1873
You will not grasp her with your mind
Or cover with a common label,
For Russia is one of a kind —
Believe in her, if you are able...
translated by Anatoly Liberman, published in "Russian Life in the United States”
― Fyodor Tyutchev Anatoly Liberman

“En Union Soviétique, quand quelque chose ne va pas, dans un domaine d’activité quelconque, on pense d’abord structures. On l’a vu en août 1972, après le sévère réquisitoire du Comité Central du Parti contre la production cinématographique. Des mesures de réorganisation avaient tout de suite été prises. Un nouveau patron était nommé à la tête de Goskino.
Deux mois plus tard, l’Union des Cinéastes se réunissait à Moscou. Un débat très libre s’ouvrait qui étonnait les correspondants étrangers par sa franchise. On y entendait Alexandre Medvedkine (Le Bonheur) s’interroger sur la notion de « film politique ». En même temps qu’étaient critiquées certaines mesures de réorganisation, on se félicitait de la création d’un « studio central des scénarios » susceptible d’assainir les rapports (difficiles, paraît-il) entre scénaristes et réalisateurs.
Mais l’interrogation majeure de cette rencontre était : « Existe-t-il un cinéma pour les masses et un cinéma pour les élites ? ».
On conviendra que c’était là une question d’importance. Surtout en Union Soviétique. Répondre oui c’était reconnaître l’existence possible de plusieurs publics avec ce que cela implique de conséquences sur la conception, la production, la distribution des films dans un appareil d’État qui fait volontiers du populisme une vertu.”
― Gaston Haustrate, Cinéma 73 : Le Crépuscule des Dieux, L'Homosexualité à L'Écran, Le Cinéma Soviétique en Questions

“I am stubborn," he had said once, 'or how you call "obstinate," then you must hit me. Hit me hard. Russians need to be hit. We only understand to be hit. We need a big fist, I can tell you.”
― Shirley MacLaine, Dancing in the Light

“I read many books on Russian artists, writers, philosophers, and musicians in an attempt to understand [Vassy, her partner]. I seemed to be concluding that the Russian himself was saying 'We are not to be understood.' It was maddeningly challenging to me. I didn't like not understanding...at least to my satisfaction. Half savage, half saint. That seemed to be the consensus of opinion among the Russians themselves. The communist government appeared to be irrelevant, merely a continuation in a different form of a system which basically denied the importance of the individual. Vassy had told me in the beginning that the Russian people had the government they needed and understood, and in many respects he even claimed they would want Joe Stalin back because he would, in effect, protect them from themselves.”
― Shirley MacLaine, Dancing in the Light

“Winter was coming on–the terrible Russian winter. I heard business men speak of it so: 'Winter was always Russia’s best friend. Perhaps now it will rid us of Revolution.”
― John Reed

“Tchaikovsky would grate into music, leak out like an ointment from the long day’s captivity. At night neighbors heard the grating nonstop ballet inveigle into dance these three tenants; either they moved to Russian music or they sat before each other, numbed and apologetic.”
― Wilfrido D. Nolledo, But for the Lovers

“Я взявся перетрушувати баул і серед хламу витрусив з нього книжку. Це була збірка вибраних віршів Сєрґєя Єсєніна. Тобто якийсь руский, їдучи в Україну вбивати нас, у дуже стислий перелік найнеобхідніших речей, поряд зі штанами й аптечкою, взяв зі собою книжку.”
― Артур Дронь, Гемінґвей нічого не знає