Pam J

“Ignatov: "...History has shown charm to be the final ambition of the leisure class. What I do find surprising is that the author of the poem in question could have become a man so obviously without purpose. "
Rostov: "I have lived under the impression that a man's purpose is known only to God."
Ignatov: "Indeed. How convenient that must have been for you.”
― Amor Towles, A Gentleman in Moscow

“Why?” repeated the Count. “Why, so that she can be addressed. So that she can be invited for tea; called to from across the room; discussed in conversation when absent; and included in your prayers. That is, for all the very reasons that you benefit from having a name.”
― Amor Towles, A Gentleman in Moscow

“But of course, the Count also wept for himself. For despite his friendships with Marina and Andrey and Emile, despite his love for Anna, despite Sofia - that extraordinary blessing that had struck him from the blue - when Mikhail Fyodorovich Mindich died, there went the last of those who had known him as a younger man.”
― Amor Towles, A Gentleman in Moscow

“Now, when a man has been underestimated by a friend, he has some cause for taking offense—since it is our friends who should overestimate our capacities.”
― Amor Towles, A Gentleman in Moscow