Sergei Quotes & Sayings

In a war the most dangerous thing is to understand the enemy. To understand is to forgive. And we
have no right to do that - we never have had, not since the creation of the world. — Sergei Lukyanenko

The whole problem is that the regime is a reflection of society. Crooked and grotesque, but still a reflection. And as long as most of the citizens of a country - if they happened to gain power - would steal and regard themselves as better than other people, no remoralization of the ruling circles will change anything. Those politicians who acquire a conscience will leave. And new ones without consciences will take their places. It's people who have to change, society - — Sergei Lukyanenko

Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music. — Sergei Rachmaninoff

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

We started with that, basically to help kids, and then we created a pole vault school, which is part of the club and exists to this day. The club and school exist. — Sergei Bubka

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

First trust your eyes ... then check by rules. Many times something else is happening, and the rules will not apply. — Sergei Bongart

I can't even find a pond small enough
to drown in without being ostentatious — Frank O'Hara

'A fine story', said Asterinov ...
'Six months in prison, that tale,' said Sergei.
'Was it the witch?', I asked 'I never know where the Party stands on issues of the supernatural ... '
...
'It was, - understand, I do not know for sure, I heard this at second or third hand - it was the walk through the forest. Apparently I was just too convincing in the representation of a poor man's yearning for money ... ' — Adam Roberts

Sergei remembered well how unsettled Nikishin had been by the arm and leg that day. Then, it had made him sneer inwardly, but it was difficult to maintain that derision since he began to like the man. Trust him even. And that could be dangerous enough, laws being what they were, Nikishin being who he was. Never mind that any normal individual would be revolted by Sergei's current physical state, and justifiably so. Cyborg patchwork over mangled flesh. The pinnacle of attractive. He'd always been different, a freak. Now it was just visible. Impossible to hide. — Aleksandr Voinov

The time will come when a spacecraft carrying human beings will leave the earth and set out on a voyage to distant planets - to remote worlds. Today this may seem only an enticing fantasy, but such in fact is not the case. The launching of the first two Soviet Sputniks has already thrown a sturdy bridge from the earth into space, and the way to the stars is open — Sergei Korolev

at home the very walls lend you strength, — Sergei Lukyanenko

Whoever tries to imitate me is lost, — Sergei Parajanov

What has to happen to us before we understand that we have to take good care of everything we have, of every tree in our boundless forests, every little stream that isn't even marked on the maps, every village with only five households, every soldier drafted into the army, every man in the street toiling under his dreary daily burden? What will it take to change us? — Sergei Lukyanenko

Life in death and death in life. Could — 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

Never become an artist if you can't learn to draw. — Sergei Bongart

Sports life is very short. — Sergei Bubka

The process by which the inanimate becomes animate seems to the audience to be a real miracle. — Sergei Obraztsov

An assassin can be found for every president. And for every prophet there are a thousand interpreters to distort the essence of the religion, to replace the bright flame with the heat of the inquisitors' pyres. The time came when every book was cast into the fire, when every symphony was reduced to a popular tune and played in all the drinking dens. A sound philosophical basis could be set in place under any vile nonsense. — Sergei Lukyanenko

Love is a great power, and such a strange power... — Sergei Lukyanenko

The Soviet Union has become the seacoast of the universe. — Sergei Korolev

For years, we have been asking the E.U. to create something similar to the Russia-NATO council. Not in order to simply exchange opinions and work out recommendations, but to make decisions. — Sergei Lavrov

We believe Russian-American relations are broader and larger than emotions and mutual grudges, including the situation with the U.S. fugitive Edward Snowden. — Sergei Lavrov

I love the pole vault because it is a professor's sport. One must not only run and jump, but one must think. Which pole to use, which height to jump, which strategy to use. I love it because the results are immediate and the strongest is the winner. Everyone knows it. In everyday life that is difficult to prove. — Sergei Bubka

You cannot defeat Islamic State with airstrikes only. It's necessary to cooperate with ground troops, and the Syrian army is the most efficient and powerful ground force to fight the Islamic State. — Sergei Lavrov

The Americans have taken the course of confrontation and do not assess their own steps critically at all. — Sergei Lavrov

Regarding the visa-free regime, it has undoubtedly become a problem for the European Union, above all in terms of its capacity to reach agreements. — Sergei Lavrov

We believe that this is not right for a democracy to make revolutions the beacon of promoting democracy. — Sergei Lavrov

Anyone could buy a green Jaguar, find beauty in a Japanese screen two thousand years old. I would rather be a connoisseur of neglected rivers and flowering mustard and the flush of iridescent pink on an intersection pigeon's charcoal neck. I thought of the vet, warming dinner over a can, and the old woman feeding her pigeons in the intersection behind the Kentucky Fried Chicken. And what about the ladybug man, the blue of his eyes over gray threaded black? There were me and Yvonne, Niki and Paul Trout, maybe even Sergei or Susan D. Valeris, why not? What were any of us but a handful of weeds. Who was to say what our value was? What was the value of four Vietnam vets playing poker every afternoon in front of the Spanish market on Glendale Boulevard, making their moves with a greasy deck missing a queen and a five? Maybe the world depended on them, maybe they were the Fates, or the Graces. Cezanne would have drawn them in charcoal. Van Gogh would have painted himself among them. — Janet Fitch

The struggle against terrorists in the territory of Syria should be structured in cooperation with the Syrian government, which clearly stated its readiness to join it. — Sergei Lavrov

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

From somewhere in the distance, we heard a rolling crack of thunder.
"He's coming," moaned one of the Inferni. "Oh, Saints, he's coming."
"He'll kill us all," whispered Sergei.
"If we're lucky," replied Zoya. — Leigh Bardugo

Not sorry, not calling, not crying
All will pass like smoke of white apple trees
Seized by the gold of autumn,
I will no longer be young. — Sergei Yesenin

It is absolutely unacceptable to talk to Russia - or anyone for that matter - in the language of ultimatums and coercive measures. — Sergei Lavrov

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

There is no abstract Evil; you have to understand that! Its roots are here, all around us, in this herd that goes on chewing and having a good time only an hour after a murder! That's what you have to fight for. For people. Evil is a hydra with many heads, and the more of them you cut off, the more it grows! Hydras have to be starved to death, do you understand that? Kill a hundred Dark Ones, and a thousand more will take their place. — Sergei Lukyanenko

a small town outside of Arizona, Sergei Zukov, a Russian drug czar, questioned a young woman tied to a chair in her own home, — Jackie Collins

When you buy a company at an auction, and you are committing yourself to pay some $300 million to the state because it was a privatization deal, and you don't pay it, is it OK? Isn't it something that deserves court procedures? — Sergei Lavrov

Germany has traditionally played a very constructive role regarding E.U. ties with Russia and the West as a whole with Russia. — Sergei Lavrov

I'd stopped giving a damn about the human world a long time ago. It's our basis. Our cradle. But we are Others. We walk through closed doors and we maintain the balance of Good and Evil. There are pitifully few of us, and we can't reproduce - it — Sergei Lukyanenko

I hope that the United States would cooperate with the partners to reduce its debt. The debt is a problem. The debt is with you, but unfortunately, the debt is not only with you but with us and with the rest of the world because we all, one way or another, are dependent on the dollar. — Sergei Lavrov

Indeed, being a beginner is very difficult right now. Book publishers are in a crisis, sales are dwindling, and publishing houses are losing money, doing their best to survive. It's a sign of the times, the emergence of new kinds of entertainment
there's nothing we can do about it. I don't think books will perish for good. They could become less widespread, though, falling even further behind movies and computer games. But we shouldn't be afraid of this, because books will always remain the entertainment of choice for intelligent people, of whom there are still many in this world. — Sergei Lukyanenko

Russia has every reason to dispose of its nuclear arsenal ... to suit its interests and international legal obligations. — Sergei Lavrov

The pole vault is a very complicated event, there are many things involved. — Sergei Bubka

What kind of monster are you anyway? You should be more humane, Gennady!"
"I was humane when I was alive," said the vampire. — Sergei Lukyanenko

The most efficient way to memorise a piece is to use the one which proceeds in an error free manner — Sergei Rachmaninoff

The day was cold but sunny. The city was decorated with holiday flags. — Sergei Dovlatov

Because love stands above Darkness and Light.
Because love is not sex or a shared faith, or "the joint maintenance of a household and the upbringing of children."
Because love is also Power.
And Light and Darkness, people and Others, morality and law, the Ten Commandments and the Great Treaty have damn all to do with it. — Sergei Lukyanenko

Russia and the U.S. have unique experience in ensuring the safety and security of nuclear material. — Sergei Lavrov

Of course we got drunk!" Semyon said. "It's okay to get drunk, Anton. If you need to real bad. Only you have to get drunk on vodka. Cognac and wine - that's all for the heart."
"So what's vodka for?"
"For the soul. If it's hurting real bad — Sergei Lukyanenko

The common good and the individual good rarely coincide. — Sergei Lukyanenko

When there are strange things going on all around, every coincidence should be considered very carefully. — Sergei Lukyanenko

Isn't that always the way! Just when you really want to know if you did the right thing or not. But no one will ever answer that question for you. — Sergei Lukyanenko

Art is more than a product of your efforts - it should be about feeling, life, attitude, soul. — Sergei Bongart

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

We were searching for ourselves in each other. — Sergei Parajanov

There is no such thing as an unsolvable problem. — Sergei Korolev

What is nice about this sport is that I am responsible for most everything. — Sergei Bubka

Of course, the psychological part, the tactics, is very important. — Sergei Bubka

I think that, generally, you need to live with your sport 24 hours a day. — Sergei Bubka

Haggis is a brand of nappies.' I said. 'They're good, we used them for our daughter.'
'Haggis is a kind of food too,' said Semyon, shaking his head. 'Although as far as taste goes, there's probably not much difference. — Sergei Lukyanenko

The international community unfortunately did take sides in Libya, and we would never allow the Security Council to authorise anything similar to what happened in Libya. — Sergei Lavrov

Moscow has been helping the Northern Alliance because the Taliban was openly supported by Pakistan, .. until last week, Pakistani servicemen had taken part in war operations on the Taliban side. — Sergei Ivanov

Don't think love has sizes. It either is or isn't — Sergei Dovlatov

The machine does not teach playing flexibility, does not help in taking account of human facxtors in the battle, and on whole, strictly speaking, it restricts the possibilities for young players. — Sergei Shipov

Once you set out to copy another painter you can never be more than number two. — Sergei Bongart

You cannot strengthen the law by violating the law. — Sergei Lavrov

It's about waking up in the morning with everything around you looking gray. Gray sky, gray sun, gray city, gray people, gray thoughts. And the only way out is to have another drink. Then you feel better. Then the colors come back. — Sergei Lukyanenko

Our stand is crystal-clear - we want peace in Ukraine, which can only be attained through broad national dialogue in which all regions and all political forces of the country must participate. — Sergei Lavrov

The general will be joining us, shortly.
[..] A Revision officer dropping the brother in front of a rank was the most threatening thing Sergei had heard in a long time. He stared at Nikishin, tried to read his features, but that was entirely impossible. Never before had Nikishin appeared more the arm of the law. — Aleksandr Voinov

Now why should the cinema follow the forms of theater and painting rather than the methodology of language, which allows wholly new concepts of ideas to arise from the combination of two concrete denotations of two concrete objects? — Sergei Eisenstein

Historical experience shows that a crisis causes either a recovery or catastrophic consequences. — Sergei Lavrov

We are convinced that the only way to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue is through negotiations. — Sergei Lavrov

Russia sees itself as a country that is self-sufficient. — Sergei Ivanov

I have bought pole vault equipment, the landing areas, posts, which costs a lot of money. We pay for coaches. — Sergei Bubka

The Russian Federation and the United States of America, the two biggest nuclear powers in the world, but apart from nuclear-wise, we have a lot in common. We have huge territories, natural resources, technologies, science, education, and of course human capital. — Sergei Lavrov

I wouldn't even go into the history of the last days of the Soviet Union, the withdrawal from Europe, and what promises were given at that time, because those were oral promises, and our leaders of that time strongly believe that, like in ancient Russia, a word given is better than any treaty. — Sergei Lavrov

I get the same buzz cleaning up the yard as Leo Tolstoy did from scything hay. — Sergei Lukyanenko

And, of course, method is very important as is a high-quality specialist (trainer) working with you to keep you going in the right direction for your improvement and to help create results. — Sergei Bubka

As a schoolboy I liked to draw the leaders of the world proletariat - especially Marx. Just start smearing an ordinary splotch of ink around and you've already got a resemblance ... — Sergei Dovlatov

We have been protecting the lives of the Russian peacekeepers who had been attacked by their Georgian comrades, because there was a joint peacekeeping force. — Sergei Lavrov

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

Others are not born bad or good ... and neither are people, by the way. — Sergei Lukyanenko

She had never liked people who spoke too familiarly upon first meeting. There ought to be a little bit more formality. — Sergei Lukyanenko

With regards to the expansion of NATO, I see it as a mistake, even a provocation in a way. — Sergei Lavrov

Now, they should have been in bed, making out and groping until one of them finally came up for air long enough to put on a condom. But they didn't move. They stood in the middle of the room, skin to skin, arms around each other and kissing like ... like ... Like this. It was as if no one had ever given Dom the memo about the difference between fucking and making love. About how to kiss a one-night stand versus how to kiss a boyfriend. Sergei — L.A. Witt

The harder they resist us, the tougher will be our response. — Sergei Udaltsov

A writer who wants to be translated and published abroad faces a very difficult challenge: first of all, he must make sure that his book is cosmopolitan in the best sense of the word, that it is interesting to a global audience. Nobody is going to read about problems that they don't care about. — Sergei Lukyanenko

If we do any deed that is unconditionally good, it gives the Dark Magicians the right to do an evil deed. — Sergei Lukyanenko

For every prophet there are a thousand interpreters to distort the essence of the religion, to replace the bright flame with the heat of the inquisitors' pyres. — Sergei Lukyanenko

The Olympics are always a special competition, it is very difficult to predict what will happen. — Sergei Bubka

The currents of modern civilization had somehow passed it by, and as he returned to it now, fresh from the sides of England and France, Sergei Semenov saw only familiar signs of backwardness and decay. — Orlando Figes

You're a big boy, you ought to understand that punctual transport, public order and safe streets, polite people and good medical services are all the achievements of dictatorship. — Sergei Lukyanenko

The attempts to distort the truth and to hide the facts behind blanket accusations have been undertaken at all stages of the Ukrainian crisis. — Sergei Lavrov

Down the steps,
... over the corpses,
... careers the pram with the child. — Sergei Eisenstein

The hiding place is believed to contain the Crown of All Things," said Lermont. "Sounds tempting, doesn't it? But somehow I think that the Crown of All Things is really the End of All Things." Semyon — Sergei Lukyanenko

I can only say that I have good personal relations with all secretaries of state with whom I have a chance to work. — Sergei Lavrov