Would it be possible to stand still on one spot more majestically — while simulating a triumphant march forward — than it is done by the two English Houses of Parliament? – Alexander Herzen
No one is to blame. It is neither their fault nor ours. It is the misfortune of being born when a whole world is dying. – Alexander Herzen
What breadth, what beauty and power of human nature and development there must be in a woman to get over all the palisades, all the fences, within which she is held captive! – Alexander Herzen
There is nothing in the world more stubborn than a corpse: you can hit it, you can knock it to pieces, but you cannot convince it. – Alexander Herzen
It is one of the secrets of Nature in its mood of mockery that fine weather lays heavier weight on the mind and hearts of the depressed and the inwardly tormented than does a really bad day with dark rain sniveling continuously and sympathetically from a dirty sky. – Muriel Spark, Territorial Rights, 1979