“There is nothing more alluring to man than freedom of conscience, but neither is there anything more agonizing.”

“Anyone who can appease a man's conscience can take his freedom away from him.”

“...the laws of nature have continually all my life offended me more than anything.”

“In such cases, 'we overcome our moral feeling if necessary', freedom, peace, conscience even, all, all are brought into the market.”

“I am sure that deep down Ikhmenev was in a state of turmoil and pain as he witnessed the tears and torment of his poor wife; I am sure it was more agonizing for him than for her - but he could not control himself. This is what happens sometimes even with the most kind-hearted of people, who are nevertheless weak-willed, and who, despite their kind-heartedness, are apt to get carried off into a state of ecstasy when unburdening themselves of their grief and anger, even at the expense of hurting someone innocent, more often than not someone who is dear to them.”

“There is nothing in the world more difficult than candor, and nothing easier than flattery. If there is a hundredth of a fraction of a false note to candor, it immediately produces dissonance, and as a result, exposure. But in flattery, even if everything is false down to the last note, it is still pleasant, and people will listen not without pleasure; with coarse pleasure, perhaps, but pleasure nevertheless.”

“The man who has a conscience suffers whilst acknowledging his sin. That is his punishment.”