Ivan Turgenev

I believe love produces a certain flowering of the whole personality which nothing else can achieve.

A withered maple leaf has left its branch and is falling to the ground; its movements resemble those of a butterfly in flight. Isn't it strange? The saddest and deadest of things is yet so like the gayest and most vital of creatures?

So long as one's just dreaming about what to do, one can soar like an eagle and move mountains, it seems, but as soon as one starts doing it one gets worn out and tired.

It was only the vulgarly mediocre that repelled her.

He was the soul of politeness to everyone -- to some with a hint of aversion, to others with a hint of respect.

I was as happy as a fish in water, and I could have stayed in that room for ever, have never left that place.

Nothing is worse and more hurtful than a happiness that comes too late. It can give no pleasure, yet it deprives you of that most precious of rights - the right to swear and curse at your fate!