"The future smells of Russian leather, of blood, of godlessness and of much whipping. I advise our grandchildren to come into the world with very thick skin on their backs."

“Whatever tears one may shed, in the end one always blows one's nose.”

“Don't send a poet to London.”

“The fundamental evil of the world arose from the fact that the good Lord has not created money enough.”

“Experience is a good school. But the fees are high.”

“No talent, but a character.”

“He who will establish himself on a certain height must yield according to circumstances, like the weather-cock on a church-spire, which, though it be made of iron, would soon be broken by the storm-wind if it remained obstinately immovable, and did not understand the noble art of turning to every wind. But a great man will never so far contradict his own feelings as to see, or, it may be, increase, with cold-blooded indifference, the misfortunes of his fellow country-men.”