Ivan Turgenev

“For myself, I detest the fellow, and think him a charlatan. I am certain that, in spite of his frogs, he is making no real progress in physics.”

“Bazarov drew himself up haughtily. "I don't adopt any one's ideas; I have my own."”

“Death is an old joke, but it comes like new to everyone.”

“'There was a time,' Nikolai Artemyevitch resumed, 'when daughters did not allow themselves to look down on their parents—when the parental authority forced the disobedient to tremble. That time has passed, unhappily: so at least many persons imagine; but let me tell you, there are still laws which do not permit—do not permit—in fact there are still laws. I beg you to mark that: there are still laws——'”

“Time (as is well known) sometimes flies like a bird, sometimes crawls like a worm. But a man feels particularly happy when he doesn't even notice whether it's passing quickly or quietly.”

“Death's an old story, but new for each person.”

“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.”

“The word tomorrow was invented for indecisive people and for children.”