265 Quotes by Ivan Turgenev

We’re young, we’re not monsters, no fools: we’ll conquer happiness for ourselves.

A withered maple leaf has left its branch and is falling to the ground; its movements resemble those of a butterfly in flight. Isn't it strange? The saddest and deadest of things is yet so like the gayest and most vital of creatures?

The only people who treasure systems are those whom the whole truth evades, who want to catch it by the tail. A system is just like the truth's tail, but the truth is like a lizard. It will leave the tail in your hand and escape; it knows that it will soon grow another tail.

A son should never be a judge of his father, especially I of such a father as you, who've never in any way put any constraints on my freedom.

The misfortune of solitary and timid people - who are timid from self-consciousness - is just that, though they have eyes and indeed open them wide, they see nothing, or see everything in a false light, as though through coloured spectacles.

En la ciudad se rumorea que un amor contrariado ha sido la causa que la impulsó a tomar esa trágica decisión

Death's an old story, but new for each person.

Aprovéchate todo lo que puedas, pero no te entregues tú mismo: el sentido de la vida es no pertenecer a nadie más que a si mismo.

It seemed to us that all people to a greater or lesser degree belong to one of these two types, that almost every one of us resembles either Don Quixote or Hamlet.