A great wind is blowing, and that gives you either imagination or a headache.

I shall be an autocrat, that's my trade; and the good Lord will forgive me, that's his.

I am one of the people who love the why of things

In my position you have to read when you want to write and to talk when you would like to read . . .

You philosophers are lucky men. You write on paper and paper is patient. Unfortunate Empress that I am, I write on the susceptible skins of living beings.

If Russians knew how to read, they would write me off