“Because what is man without his volition but a stop on a barrel-organ cylinder?”

“"Ha! ha! ha! But after all, if you like, in reality there is not such thing as choice," you will interrupt with a laugh. "Science has even now succeeded in analysing man to such an extent that we know already that choice and what is called freedom of will are nothing other than--"Wait, gentlemen, I meant to begin with that myself. I admit I was even frightened. I was just going to shout that after all the devil only knows what choice depends on, and that perhaps that is a very good thing, but I remembered the teaching of science-- and pulled myself up. And here you have begun to speak. After all, really, well, if someday they truly discover a formula for all our desires and caprices-- that is, an explanations of what they depend upon, by what laws they arise, just how they develop, what they are aiming at in one case or another and so on, and so on, that is, a real mathematical formula-- then, after all, man would most likely at once stop to feel desire, indeed, he will be most certain to. For who would want to choose by rule? Besides, he will at once be transformed from a human being into an organ stop or something of the sort; for what is a man without desire, without free will and without choice, if not a stop in an organ? What do you think? Let us consider the probability-- can such a thing happen or not?”

“He could not pass by children without his soul being shaken: such is the man.”

“It is man's unique privilege, among all other organisms. By pursuing falsehood you will arrive at the truth!”

“Braćo, ne bojte se grehova ljudskih, volite čoveka i u grehu njegovom, jer kad ko voli čoveka grešnog, to je već slika Božanske ljubavi i vrhunac je ljubavi na zemlji. Volite sve stvorenje Božje i celokupno i svaku mrvicu. Svaki listić, svaku zraku Božju volite. Volite životinje, volite bilje, volite svaku stvar. Budeš li voleo svaku stvar – i tajnu ćeš Božju razumeti u stvarima. A shvatiš li je jedared, ti ćeš je posle neumorno početi poznavati sve dalje i više, svakodnevno. I zavolećeš, najzad, sav svet vascelom i vasionom ljubavlju. Životinje volite: njima je Bog dao klicu misli i tihu radost. Nemojte im je narušavati i remetiti, ne mučite ih, ne oduzimajte im radost, ne protivite se misli Božjoj. Čoveče, ne uznosi se, ne misli da si bolji od životinje: one su bezgrešne, a ti, sa svojim veličanstvom, ti samo gnojiš zemlju svojom pojavom, na njoj trag svoj gnojni ostavljaš posle sebe, - i to, avaj, skoro svaki, svaki između nas!Decu volite naročito, jer ona su bezgrešna kao anđeli i žive da bi nas razdragala i usrećila; ona žive zarad čišćenja srdaca naših, kao neki putokaz za nas. Teško onome ko uvredi dete...”

“If we're to come to love a man, the man himself should stay hidden, because as soon as he shows his face--love vanishes.”

“The triumphant sense of security, of deliverance from overwhelming danger, that was what filled his whole soul that moment without thought for the future, without analysis, without suppositions or surmises, without doubts and without questioning. It was an instant of full, direct, purely instinctive joy.”