“Idyllic memories are merely a jeweled noose.”

“Like ugly Asian babies, valid superstitions don’t exist. At best, any perceived effect of a superstition is you merely psyching yourself out. Think of it as an asshole placebo.”

“Whereas in Western countries the constitution merely had to guarantee the rights of a per-existing civil society and culture, in Russia it also had to create these. It had to educate society - and the state itself - into the values and ideas of liberal constitutionalism.”

“Sveta had much less to say, but she sat with Lev and held his hand, and when I asked her what had made her fall in love with him, she replied, ‘I knew he was my future. When he was not there, I would look for him, and he would always appear by my side. That is love.’ Sveta”

“I got to dress up in funny clothes and run around New Zealand with a bow and arrow for 18 months, how bad could that be?”

“The silver Swan, who living had no Note,when Death approached, unlocked her silent throat.Leaning her breast against the reedy shore,thus sang her first and last, and sang no more:Farewell, all joys! O Death, come close mine eyes!More Geese than Swans now live, more Fools than Wise.”

“Reach for the moonthe worst that can happenis you will fall among the stars”