Paweł

“Инженер-полковник Яконов находился уже на той высоте положения и ещё не в той близости к Вождю Народов, при которых мог разрешить себе роскошь не скрывать ума и не воздерживаться от своеобычных суждений.”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The First Circle

“I did not know. I was fully aware of what would be destroyed. I did not know what would be built out of the ruins. No one can know that with any degree of certainty, I thought. The old world is tangible, solid we live in it and are struggling with it every moment – it exists. The world of the future is not yet born, it is elusive, fluid, made of the light from which dreams are woven; it is a cloud buffeted by violent winds – love, hate, imagination, luck, God… The greatest prophet on earth can give men no more than a watchful word, and the vaguer the watch word the greater the prophet.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, Zorba the Greek

“Can one be a saint without God?

(...)

- Heroism and sanctity don't really appeal to me . . . What interests me is - being a man.”
― Albert Camus, The Plague

“Day and night I thought of nothing but cherries. I foamed at the
mouth; it was torture! But one day I got mad, or ashamed, I don't know which. Anyway, I
just felt cherries were doing what they liked with me and it was ludicrous. So what did I
do? I got up one night, searched my father's pockets and found a silver mejidie and
pinched it. I was up early the next morning, went to a market gardener and bought a
basket o' cherries. I settled down in a ditch and began eating. I stuffed and stuffed till I
was all swollen out. My stomach began to ache and I was sick. Yes, boss, I was
thoroughly sick, and from that day to this I've never wanted a cherry. I couldn't bear the
sight of them. I was saved. I could say to any cherry: I don't need you any more. And I
did the same thing later with wine and tobacco. I still drink and smoke, but at any second,
if I want to, whoop! I can cut it out. I'm not ruled by passion. It's the same with my
country. I thought too much about it, so I stuffed myself up to the neck with it, spewed it
up, and it's never troubled me since.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, Zorba the Greek