131 Quotes by Mikhail Lermontov

I'm not certain whether I now believe in predestination or not, but that night I firmly believed in it. The proof had been striking, and regardless of the fact that I had ridiculed our forebears and their complacent astrology, I found myself thinking as they did--but I caught myself in time on this dangerous road, and having made it a rule never to reject anything categorically and never to believe in anything blindly, I cast metaphysics aside and began to watch the ground under my feet.

The story of a man's soul, however trivial, can be more interesting and instructive than the story of a whole nation

On her proud soul, I tell you, I have affixed my seal above; so from your cloister I repel you, this is my kingdom, here I love!

Nay, what is human love?—a stirringOf youthful blood to quicker flow,But love grows chiller, as recurringDays, years and decades, come and go.

no good ever comes of a man who forgets an old friend

...for I love enemies, though not in the Christian way. They amuse me and quicken my pulse. To be always on one's guard, to catch every look and the significance of every word, to guess intentions, foil conspiracies, pretend to be deceived and then to overthrow with one blow the whole vast edifice of artifices and designs raised with so much effort - that is what I call life.

De geschiedenis van een mensenziel , zelfs van de allergeringste, is haast belangwekkender en leerrijker dan de geschiedenis van een geheel volk, vooral wanneer zij het resultaat is van een heldere geest, en wanneer zij geschreven is zonder ijdele wens bewondering en sympathie op te wekken.

Я его понял, и он за это меня не любит, хотя мы наружно в самых дружеских отношениях.

Ah! Nature is so fair a thing,Clad with the Sunshine and the Spring!