Ivan Turgenev - People Quotes

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The only people who remain misunderstood are those who either do not know what they want or are not worth understanding.

Ivan Turgenev

You may live a long while with some people and be on friendly terms with them and never speak openly with them from your soul.

Ivan Turgenev

In days of doubt, in days of sad brooding on my country's fate, thou alone art my rod and my staff—mighty, true, free Russian speech! But for thee, how not to fall into despair, seeing all that happens at home? Yet who can think that such a tongue is not given to a great people?

Ivan Turgenev

Art, if one employs this term in the broad sense that includes poetry within its realm, is an art of creation laden with ideals, located at the very core of the life of a people, defining the spiritual and moral shape of that life.

Ivan Turgenev

People without firmness of character love to make up a fate for themselves; that relieves them of the necessity of having their own will and of taking responsibility for themselves.

Ivan Turgenev