My Sergei Quotes & Sayings

I want nothing better, more flexible or more complete than the sonata form, which contains everything necessary for my structural purposes. — Sergei Prokofiev

I compose music because I must give expression to my feelings, just as I talk because I must give utterance to my thoughts. — Sergei Rachmaninoff

I looked at the empty suitcase. On the bottom was Karl Marx. On the lid was Brodsky. And between them, my lost, precious, only life. — Sergei Dovlatov

I often use detective elements in my books. I love detective novels. But I also think science fiction and detective stories are very close and friendly genres, which shows in the books by Isaac Asimov, John Brunner, and Glen Cook. However, whilst even a tiny drop of science fiction may harm a detective story, a little detective element benefits science fiction. Such a strange puzzle. — Sergei Lukyanenko

My mother had to explain that one couldnt compose a Liszt rhapsody because it was a piece of music that Liszt himself had composed. — Sergei Prokofiev

Sergei recited a Pushkin poem in Russian while I recited a stanza by Racine from my French classical repertoire. Both of us, romantics at heart, were inebriated by the fresh air, the calm and the greenery surrounding us, and we decided to ride to a village where we could taste the local food and wash it down with beer for Sergei and tea for me. — Liliane Willens

The strategy of my coach and me was that we looked at pictures of all the best pole vaulters from around the world, and we took the best parts from them, and we created a person that had never existed. We then started to work toward being such a person. — Sergei Bubka

What can I do? I have no talents. I refuse to cripple myself for ninety roubles ... Well, all right, so I'll eat two thousand hamburgers in my lifetime. Wear out twenty-five dark-grey suits. Leaf through seven hundred issues of the local newspaper. And die without scratching the earth's surface. Is that it? ... I'd rather live only a minute, but live it right! (Fred Kolesnikov) — Sergei Dovlatov

My dear hands. Farewell, my poor hands. — Sergei Rachmaninoff

Why should I waste my imagination on myself? - SERGEI DIAGHILEV — Clive James

I have never doubted the importance of melody. I like melody very much, and I consider it the most important element in music, and I labour many years on the improvement of its quality in my compositions. — Sergei Prokofiev

You don't like me, do you?" she asked suddenly and pathetically, just like a small child.
Sergei did not look at her but merely said, "What makes you think that?"
"It is normal to try to make conversation while in the car with someone, isn't it?"
"Oh, well, my English is only average," he lied.
"Maybe, but I speak Russian," she persisted
Sergei grunted.
"What, your Russian is only average too?" she said, raising an eyebrow. — William Axtell

two of them, Ivan and Sergei, had strolled in, squinting curiously at my market stall. They seemed particularly interested in all the silk clothing I had just brought back from India. Ivan - the tall, dark, handsome one - was relatively polite. He waved a slender hand at his own stall, packed with the very same silk, and said, 'I think we have a problem.' Viktor - his short, psychotic brother - was more to the point. The stubby fingers of one hand curled around my table, lifted it and tipped the whole thing over. He glared at me. 'If that goes back up,' he growled, 'I'm — Frank Kusy

Goodbye, my friend, goodbye
My love, you are in my heart.
It was preordained we should part
And be reunited by and by.
Goodbye: no handshake to endure.
Let's have no sadness - furrowed brow.
There's nothing new in dying now
Though living is no newer. — Sergei Yesenin

You really don't get how amazing you are, do you? Well let me make it really clear for you - so amazing that I would risk everything, just to let you know. Just to tell you I love you, Sergei. I love you. I love you more than my life — Charlotte Stein

My main idea was to create a sports facility for the basics. This is why I established the club. — Sergei Bubka

Books are attracted to me. They make a beeline for me, and stick to me. I have been so fond of them that at last they have begun to reciprocate. In my hands books burst like ripe fruit. Like magic flowers they unfold their petals to show me the vital thought, the suggestive word, the confirming quotation, the decisive illustration. — Sergei Eisenstein

Do you have a truth of your own, Anton? Tell me, do you? Are you certain of it? Then believe it, not in my truth, not in Geser's. Believe in it and fight for it. If you have enough courage. If the idea doesn't make you shudder. What's bad about Dark freedom is not just that it's freedom from others. That's another explanation for little children. Dark freedom is first and foremost freedom from yourself, from your own conscience and your own soul. The moment you can't feel any pain in your chest - call for help. Only by then it'll be too late — Sergei Lukyanenko

Sergei, what are you checking for?" I asked. At first I thought it was funny. He moved quickly and efficiently, making a clean sweep of each room with me trailing behind him.

"I am checking to make sure we are alone," he informed me. "You could be spy."

"Sergei, I'm not a spy. There is no one here in my apartment besides you and me. You know where I work." I tried to assure him, but I didn't know what else I could do to convince him otherwise. — K. Kidd

She clucked her tongue at Sergei. "Father, you could have killed me."
"You know I would never do that. If I did, who would fetch my bread from the bakery every morning? — Evelyn Skye

My policy was just to give good things for sports in my region. — Sergei Bubka

I strenuously object to the very word "grotesque" which has become hackneyed to the point of nausea ... I would prefer my music to be described as "Scherzo-ish" in quality, or else by three words describing the various degrees of the Scherzo - whimsicality, laughter, mockery. — Sergei Prokofiev

Conversations with my counterparts in Europe have made clear that many of them recognize NATO's limitations and understand the need for reform. — Sergei Lavrov

The evening before, the sky had been different, with clouds drifting over the city, and the air had been filled with the scent of a chilly, damp wind and snow that hadn't fallen yet. I'd felt like snuggling down deep into my armchair, sticking something cheerful and moronic - something American - in the VCR, taking a sip of cognac and just falling sleep. But — Sergei Lukyanenko

It seemed to me that had Haydn lived to our day he would have retained his own style while accepting something of the new at the same time. That was the kind of symphony I wanted to write: a symphony in the classical style. And when I saw that my idea was beginning to work, I called it the Classical Symphony. — Sergei Prokofiev

In my view, the composer,
just as the poet, the sculptor or the painter,
is in duty bound to serve Man, the people.
He must beautify life and defend it.
He must be a citizen first and foremost,
so that his art might consciously extol human life
and lead man to a radiant future. — Sergei Prokofiev

At home we didnt talk about religion. So gradually the question faded away by itself and disappeared from the agenda. When I was nineteen my father died; my response to his death was atheistic. — Sergei Prokofiev

The number of people who will be horrified by what happens, who will spill tears of sympathy with others' grief, will be very great. But there will be more, infinitely more, who will sit with their eyes glued greedily to their TV screens, who will take pleasure in other people's suffering, feel glad that it passed their city by, and make jokes about the retribution meted out to the Third Rome . . . retribution from on high. You know that, my enemy. — Sergei Lukyanenko

WELCOME to my bookamabob!
Buckle your cravat and prepare
for have your whiskers quiver.
My story of struggles, successes and
sergei is the greatest, most thrillsy book ever written by a meerkat in the bath... — Aleksandr Orlov

Goodbye, my friend, goodbye. My dear, you are in my heart. Predestined separation promises a future meeting. — Sergei Yesenin

Why was is that the Light acted through lies, and the Darkness acted though the truth? Why was is that our truth proved powerless, but lies were effective? And why was the Darkness able to manage perfectly well with truth in order to do Evil? — Sergei Lukyanenko

[after guard dogs frozen mid-attack] 'How long are the dogs going to stay hanging there like that?' ask Yulia. 'I want to make friends with them. Otherwise, i'll be left with a latent psychological complex that's bound to affect my personality and sexual preferences. — Sergei Lukyanenko

Sir Kenneth MacMillan's version of 'Romeo and Juliet' is my favorite full-length ballet, Sergei Prokofiev's breathtaking score a favorite composition of music. As a student of martial arts, I loved drawing my sword in defense of my Capulet kin. — Sascha Radetsky

Even now I want to keep my amateur spirit, to spend my time, to be in the sport with all my heart. — Sergei Bubka

What was my truth worth, if I was prepared to defend the entire world, but not those who were close to me? If I subdued hate, but wouldn't give love a chance? — Sergei Lukyanenko

I bareley knew how to say "my name is," "please" and "thank you," or "I don't speak english," never mind understanding a Newfoundlander talking to me! — Sergei Ivantchev

Of course I have used dissonance in my time, but there has been too much dissonance. Bach used dissonance as good salt for his music. Others applied pepper, seasoned the dishes more and more highly, till all healthy appetites were sick and until the music was nothing but pepper. — Sergei Prokofiev

I decided to create a sports club during the Soviet times. It was my dream. — Sergei Bubka

Do I smell like wild places, still?"
Sergei laughed softly and ruffled his hair. "I'd have to compare. And monitor that. Refine my assessment over the next years ... "
"Ranch has plenty of spare dung. I'll be sure to roll in it regularly." Teeth scraped his arm, nipped his skin gently.
"I always knew the Alliance was decadent. I intend to see just how decadent. — Rhi Etzweiler

I have spoken with many former athletes, and they tell me the best time they had was in sports. I listen to them and use their experience in my career. — Sergei Bubka