“The role of the artist is to ask questions, not answer them.”

“Anyone who says the artist's field is all answers and no questions has never done any writing or had any dealings with imagery...You are confusing two concepts: answering the questions and formulating them correctly. Only the latter is required of an author.”

“We shall find peace. We shall hear angels, we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds.”

“Desription should be very brief and have an incidental nature.”

“Despite your best efforts, you could not invent a better police force for literature than criticism and the author's own conscience.”

“Yelena. What a lovely day!... Not to hot either. Voynitski. It would even be pleasant to hang oneself on a day like this.”

“A sweet lie is more gracious for us than a virulent but real truth.”