Russian Empire

Leo Tolstoy

Literature

literary realism

1828–1910

"There is only one time that is important -- NOW! It is the most important time because it is the only time that we have any power."

Anton Chekhov

Literature

Modernism

1860–1904

"The world is a fine place. The only thing wrong with it is us. How little justice and humility there is in us, how poorly we understand patriotism!"

Emma Goldman

Social Activism

1869–1940

"I do not believe in God, because I believe in man. Whatever his mistakes, man has for thousands of years past been working to undo the botched job your God has made."

Nikolai Gogol

Literature

1809–1852

"The year 2000: April 43rd.—To-day is a day of splendid triumph. Spain has a king; he has been found, and I am he."

Peter Kropotkin

Philosophy

anarchism

1842–1921

"Educated men — "civilized," as Fourier used to say with disdain — tremble at the idea that society might some day be without judges, police, or gaolers."

Mikhail Bakunin

Philosophy

Anarchism

1764–1837

"Nothing, in fact, is as universal or as ancient as the iniquitous and absurd; truth and justice, on the contrary, are the least universal, the youngest features in the development of human society."

Ayn Rand

Philosophy

1905–1982

"When you consider socialism, do not fool yourself about its nature. Remember that there is no such dichotomy as “human rights” versus “property rights.” No human rights can exist without property rights."

Wassily Kandinsky

Art

Symbolism

1866–1944

"Well, we will indeed see how things develop and what will become of our art! In any case, artists should remain apolitical and only think of their work and dedicate all their energies to this work."

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Literature

literary realism

1871–1922

"The fear of appearances is the first symptom of impotence."

Vladimir Putin

Politics

Russian nationalism

1911–1999

"Even 50 years ago, the streets of Leningrad taught me one thing: if a fight is inevitable, go and fight first."

Kazimir Malevich

Art

Suprematism

1879–1935

".. the overturning of the old world of arts will be etched across your 'palms'"

Helena Blavatsky

Philosophy

1831–1891

"Psychology. The Science of Soul, in days of old: a Science which served as the unavoidable basis for physiology. Whereas in our modern day, it is psychology that is being based upon physiology."

"A thorough understanding of game theory, should dim these greedy hopes. Knowledge of game theory does not make one a better card player, businessman or military strategist."

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Music

1840–1893

"After the last notes of Gotterdammerung I felt as though I had been let out of prison."

Alexander Borodin

Music

1833–1887

"Music is a pastime, a relaxation from more serious occupations."

Helena Roerich

Philosophy

1879–1955

"Statues in honor of the Bodhisattva Maitreya were erected in India and Tibet at the very beginning of our Christian Era, and there is not a single Buddhist temple where there is not now an Image of this Bodhisattva."

Ossip Zadkine

Art

cubism

1888–1967

"images of sculptures and paintings of Zadkine"

Christian David Ginsburg

1831–1914

"The Kabbalah was first taught by God himself to a select company of angels, who formed a theosophic school in Paradise."

Ivan Turgenev

Literature

literary realism

1818–1883

"Death is an old joke, but it comes like new to everyone."

African Spir

Philosophy

Kantianism

1837–1890

"Men spend their life down here in the worship of petty interests and the search of perishable things, and with that they pretend to perpetuate for all eternity their self so hardly worthy of it."

Dmitri Shostakovich

Music

1906–1975

"People knew about Babi Yar before Yevtushenko's poem, but they were silent. And when they read the poem, the silence was broken. Art destroys silence."

"True silence is the speech of lovers. For only love knows its beauty, completeness and utter joy."

Sergey Lavrov

Politics

1950–1910

"As the Libyan experience has shown, sadly, a military scenario is possible. We won’t allow any more such disingenuous interpretations. We will see to it that no resolution is open to interpretation like the one on Libya."

Alexander Suvorov

Military

1730–1800

"Drill your soldiers well, and give them a pattern yourself."

Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov

Philosophy

1829–1903

"The problem of the force which brings the two sexes to unite and give birth to a third being is also a problem of death."

Menachem Mendel of Kotzk

Religion

1787–1859

"If I am I because I am I, and you are you because you are you, then I am I and you are you. But if I am I because you are you and you are you because I am I, then I am not I and you are not you!"

Nicholas Roerich

Philosophy

1874–1947

"They will ask, "Can the time of Maitreya create a New Era?" Answer, "If the Crusades brought a new age, then truly the Era of Maitreya is a thousandfold more significant." In such consciousness should one proceed."

Isaac Bashevis Singer

Literature

1904–1991

"We write not only for children but also for their parents. They, too, are serious children."

Nachman of Breslov

Religion

1772–1810

"If you believe that it is possible to break, believe it is also possible to fix."

Georgy Zhukov

Politics

1896–1974

"And now German generals find it hard to explain away their retreat."

Nicholas_I_of_Russia

Politics

1796–1855

"I wish to base the whole structure and administration of the state on the full power and vigour of the law."

Fryderyk Skarbek

Politics

1792–1866

"a set of powers and ways used by a nation to keep and improve physical existence of its members... Moral good of a nation is a consequence of its education, and its physical good is a result of national economy."

Nicholas II of Russia

Politics

1868–1918

"That fat Rodzianko has again sent me some nonsense to which I will not even reply."

Sergey Nechayev

Literature

nihilism

1847–1882

"Its twenty-six articles , setting out the principles of the professional revolutionary, might have served as the Bolshevik oath. The morals of that party owed much to Nechaev as they did to Marx."

Marianne von Werefkin

Art

Expressionism

1860–1938

"Marianne Werefkin: Author's bio by Adrienne Kochman on 19thc-artworldwide.org"

Jakob Hurt

Politics

1839–1907

"If we can't be a great nation in population we can be a great nation in spirit!"

Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky

Mathematics

1792–1856

"There is no branch of mathematics, however abstract, which may not some day be applied to phenomena of the real world."

Sophia Tolstaya

Art

1844–1919

"We live in such isolation, and here I am again with my silent friend, my diary."

Ze'ev Jabotinsky

Literature

Revisionist Zionism

1880–1940

"The Jews might become the dynamite that will blow up the British Empire."