“I feel sad for the righteous man who cannot find understanding or compassion for a magnificent sinner like me.”

“Who owns a man, Durnik?” the blond young man asked sadly. “The one who rules him, or the one who pays him?”

“There are only two kinds of men: the righteous who think they are sinners and the sinners who think they are righteous.”

“I cannot but feel compassion when I hear some trig, compact-looking man, seemingly free, all girded and ready, speak of his 'furniture,' as whether it is insured or not. 'But what shall I do with my furniture?'...It would surpass the powers of a well man nowadays to take up his bed and walk, and I should certainly advise a sick one to lay down his bed and run.”

“I like to do things that frighten me. When I’m afraid, I understand more things. I want the feeling... All my instincts cry out against it, every morning anew. Then I say, ‘I should do it. If I don’t do it, no one will do it for me.”

“Always to be pushing out like this, beyond what I know cannot be the limits - what else should a man's life be?”

“I am starting to realize what this means, and how sad it would be.I am already feeling some of the sadness now, and it isn’t even happening.”