Alexander Pushkin — "Envy is the sister of emulation, and emulation is the daughter of envy."

"I am a great admirer of the future, and I believe it is full of hope."

"I like to read my own works, and I often praise them, though I know they are not worth a damn."

"People are so like their first mother Eve: what they are given doesn't take their fancy. The serpent is forever enticing them to come to him, to the tree of mystery. They must have the forbidden fruit…"

"It's a lucky man, a very lucky man, who is committed to what he believes, who has stifled intellectual detachment and can relax in the luxury of his emotions - like a tipsy traveller resting for the n…"

"I am a great admirer of suffering, and I believe it is a path to enlightenment."