Ivan Turgenev - Fathers and Sons (1862)

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That vague, crepuscular time, the time of regrets that resemble hopes, of hopes that resemble regrets, when youth has passed, but old age has not yet arrived.

Ivan Turgenev
A withered maple leaf has left its branch and is falling to the ground; its movements resemble those of a butterfly in flight. Isn't it strange? The saddest and deadest of things is yet so like the gayest and most vital of creatures?

Ivan Turgenev
A picture shows me at a glance what it takes dozens of pages of a book to expound.

Ivan Turgenev
Nature is not a temple, but a workshop, and man's the workman in it.

Ivan Turgenev
I only know that I feel tired, antiquated; I feel as though I had been living a long, long time.

Ivan Turgenev
He was the soul of politeness to everyone — to some with a hint of aversion, to others with a hint of respect.

Ivan Turgenev
What's important is that twice two is four and all the rest's nonsense.

Ivan Turgenev
A nihilist is a man who does not bow to any authorities, who does not take any principle on trust, no matter with what respect that principle is surrounded.

Ivan Turgenev
The fact is that previously they were simply dunces and now they've suddenly become nihilists.

Ivan Turgenev
I don't see why it's impossible to express everything that's on one's mind.

Ivan Turgenev
So many memories and so little worth remembering, and in front of me — a long, long road without a goal...

Ivan Turgenev
Just try and set death aside. It sets you aside, and that's the end of it!

Ivan Turgenev
Nature is no temple, but a workshop, and man is the worker therein.

Ivan Turgenev
A son is like a lopped off branch. As a falcon he comes when he wills and goes where he lists.

Ivan Turgenev
The past was a dream wasn't it? And who ever remembers dreams?

Ivan Turgenev