I’ve played Romeo for Juliet(But in depth)It’s vignettes of silhouettes(And then read)And watched Russian roulette, yeah red SovietYet doing it simultaneouslyWhile dropping down shed oubliettesTurned around and took truth to the head thatLove is the...

One should write only those books from whose absence one suffers. In short: the ones you want on your own desk.

Are they Russian by way of the Ozarks?

But man is a fickle and disreputable creature and perhaps, like a chess-player, is interested in the process of attaining his goal rather than the goal itself.

One does not go to Moscow to get fat.

Moral maxims are surprisingly useful on occasions when we can invent little else to justify our actions.

A Spaniard and a Pole worked in the barbershop where we got our hair cut. An Italian shined our shoes. A Croat washed our car. This was America.

You’re not like them. You’re my McSailor.”A soft touch made him smile, thinking of Bonnie, before he realized it was Innochka’s hand stroking his face. The touch of a mobster’s girlfriend. He leaped back, still...

‎I was cursed with the pessimism of both the Russians and the Jews two of the gloomiest tribes in the world. Still if there wasn’t greatness in me maybe I had the talent to recognize...

Because everyone is guilty for everyone else. For all the ‘wee ones,’ because there are little children and big children. All people are ‘wee ones.’ And I’ll go for all of them, because there must...

Never dilute vodka. Is sin.

That is the way we decided to talk, free and easy, two young men discussing a boxing match. That was the only way to talk. You couldn’t let too much truth seep into your conversation,...

In de loop van de vijf, zes jaar dat ik in Rusland verbleef, ben ik een paar keer door diverse organisaties en individuen gedood dan wel doodverklaard.Teruggekeerd naar het vaderland kwam ik erachter dat ik...

The Russians are on the radar. It’s time.”As Bounter turned to pick up the tiny button-size microphone, Grant clenched his hands into fists, his anticipation building.It’s time.

On the Russian revolutionaries:To leave your parents, faithful and loyal subjects of the Emperor, to leave your profession, to desist from having children, to lose your fortune, and to give up your civil honor, all...

Your washing machine is my bathtub. Every time I see you my heart spins with desire. YA by nosit’ Moskvu shtany dlya vas, kak drozh’ babushki. (I’d wear Moscow as pants for you, like a...

Literature, art, science, and religion degenerate when polemical struggle supplants the independent creation of ideas.

I speak the language of love. That’s right, I speak Russian.

Nemoj budit odsanjane snove, nek miruje ono čega ne bi. Odveć rano zamoren životom,samo čemer osjećam u sebi.

Some say God is living there [in space]. I was looking around very attentively, but I did not see anyone there. I did not detect either angels or gods….I don’t believe in God. I believe...

Writing is like a mental masturbation to me.

You have become her sadness and live in a different state of mind

I’m young, Russian, I come from money, and I date a very well-known person.

Let’s play Russian roulette. If you win, I give you a Colombian necktie.

They’re professionals at this in Russia, so no matter how many Jell-O shots or Jager shooters you might have downed at college mixers, no matter how good a drinker you might think you are, don’t...

Max,’ I said, looking up at him, ‘I love the Russian heritage you guys are so willing to share, but I’m not so thrilled with the French.”What?’ His brows lowered. ‘We’re not French.”Great. So the...

I’ll be your Dostoevsky, if you’ll be my Tolstoy. Our life together will be so full of despair that death will be like a gulag full of joy.

Beslan, where the Russian authorities stopped live coverage of the school being stormed, was an illustration of the progress we still have to make.

I’m actually embarrassed to tell people I’m Russian these days, because it’s become such an awful place.

How can the confessor teach/ those who are lost and sick at heart,/ when he himself, among the sinners,/ is worst, and most forsaken?/ It is only a game we play/ with other people’s sins./...

I’ll write the first sentence in English and the second sentence will be nonsense translated to Russian, to make the ultimate non sequitur.

Oh my God, you’re huge.” She struggled to get her hands to the ends of the long sleeves. The garment hung to her knees. She glanced up to see his lips pressed together, like he...

The bast, dispersing in shreds in the sunset whispered “Time has begun.” The son, Adam, stripped naked, descended into the Old Testament of his native land and arrayed himself in bast; a wreath of roadside...

Every morning I called Aeroflot to ask about my suitcase. “Oh, it’s you,” sighed the clerk. “Yes, I have your request right here. Address: Yasnaya Polyana, Tolstoy’s house. When we find the suitcase we will...