“One thing is sure:the idea that each nation is racially pure is a myth, especially a nation with a history of four thousand years.”

“A great poet can have the role of spiritual head of a nation.A great ruler is the spiritual head of a nation, and next to him there can be no other spiritual head.”

“Throughout history people blamed their sufferings on everyone and anyone except God.You don't criticize God,you thank Him.”

“...Alexei Tolstoy,Leonov, and Zoshenko had demanded that Tukhachevsky be shot. Pasternak ought to be added to them.Yes,even Pasternak couldn't stand the pressure.Vadim trembled with joy when he saw his name among the rest.."Tell me dear what millennium is it outside? This one!Everyone signed--Vsevolod Vishnevsky,Vasily Grossman,Tynyanov,Paustovsky,Konstantin Simonov,Antokolsky,Fedin,Sholokhov,Fadeyev,Tikhonov,all of them...Is that considered the normal order of things?”

“I think a man can either believe in God or not believe, he can get faith and he can lose it but there is only one God for the true believer, and that is the one he carries in his heart.”

“Those are gladioli,Josef Vissarionovich.The lower buds open before the tops.But it's better when they blossom at the same time.So the lower ones are wrapped in black paper,to keep them from blooming until the top ones do.”

“There was snow on the veranda, and on his orders the snow had not been removed. If there were no tracks in the snow, it meant that no one had approached. And as usual, the sight of the untouched snow soothed him”