242 Quotes by Yevgeny Zamyatin

Imagine yourself standing on a shore: waves rhythmically rising, rising, and then suddenly they stay there, they set, they freeze.

And everyone must lose his mind, everyone must! The sooner the better! It is essential – I know it.

Un medic adevarat incepe sa-l trateze pe om cand acesta e inca sanatos, cand omul se va imbolnavi abia maine, poimaine, peste o saptamana.

Children are the only bold philosophers. And bold philosophers are invariably children. Exactly, just like children, we must always ask, ‘And what next?

How do you know that nonsense isn’t a good thing? If human nonsense had been nurtured and developed for centuries, just as intelligence has, then perhaps something extraordinarily precious could have come from it.

I am aware of myself. And, of course, the only things that are aware of themselves and conscious of their individuality are irritated eyes, cut fingers, sore teeth. A healthy eye, finger, tooth might as well not even be there. Isn’t it clear that individual consciousness is just sickness?

All women are lips, nothing but lips. Some pink, firmly round – a ring, a tender protection against the whole world. But these: a second ago they did not exist, and now – a knife slit – and the sweet blood will drip down.

Final things are for children, because infinity scares children, and it is important that children sleep peacefully at night.

All truths are erroneous. This is the very essence of the dialectical process: today’s truths become errors tomorrow; there is no final number.