Yevgeny Yevtushenko

"I was overjoyed when I read Yevtushenko's "Babi Yar"; the poem astounded me. It astounded thousands of people…People knew about Babi Yar before Yevtushenko's poem, but they were silent. And when they …"

"Give me a mystery – just a plain and simple one – a mystery which is diffidence and silence, a slim little, barefoot mystery: give me a mystery – just one!"

"My dear friend Yevtushenko has, I claim, an ego that can crack crystal at a distance of twenty feet."

"I love sport because I love life, and sport is one of the basic joys of life"

"In general, in poetry and literature, I am among those people who believe that too much is indispensable."

"A poet's autobiography is his poetry. Anything else can be only a footnote."

"Why is it that right-wing bastards always stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity, while liberals fall out among themselves?"

"He has a clear style and has had much courage – as in his poem "Babi Yar", a memorial to the Jews murdered by the Nazis. But he is no more than a talented poetaster – which is quite obvious to all but…"