Alexandra

“Whoever you be, O my reader-
friend, foe- I wish with you
to part at present as a pal.
Farewell. Whatever you in my wake
sought in these careless strophes-
tumultuous recollections,
relief from labors,
live pictures or bons mots,
or faults of grammar-
God grant that you,
in this book,
for recreation, for the daydream,
for the heart, for jousts in journals,
may find at least a crumb.
Upon which, let us part, farewell!”
― Alexander Pushkin, Eugene Onegin

“First as a serpent, it’ll cast its spell Next to your heart, curled up. Then it’ll come as a dove as well, Cooing for days nonstop.”
― Anna Akhmatova, Evening: Poetry of Anna Akhmatova

“He loved her with the fire of a thousand suns, she was his solace in the chaos, his redemption.”
― Lenin

“Isn’t that always the way it is: if a person’s inclined to look for something, he finds it wherever he looks. Even if there’s no trace of it at all, he still finds clear evidence. Even if there’s not even a shadow, still he sees not only a shadow of what he’s looking for but everything he’s looking for. He sees it in the most unmistakable terms, and these terms become clearer with each new glance and every new thought.”
― Nikolai Chernyshevsky, What Is to Be Done?