#russia

In Russia all tyrants believe poets to be their worst enemies. ↗

— Yevgeny Yevtushenko

#poets #russia #their #tyrants #worst

This marriage had resulted from impulse: he had seen her on a high-flying swing at Tsarkoe Selo and her skirt, flared by the breeze, had exposed her ankles; he had proposed the following day. ↗

— Robert K. Massie

#nonfiction #royalty #russia #marriage

The train, I was later told by my mother, only had about ten carriages to it, and there were hundreds of people fighting to get on. I don’t think anybody knew where the train was going, only that it was leaving Strausberg and would take us away from the Russians, who were now arriving on the far end of the platform. Some German SS soldiers and Police were shooting at the Russian troops, and many people – men, women and children – were hit by the flying bullets. ↗

— Alfred Nestor

#alfred-nestor #author-alfred-nestor #hitler #hitler-s-germany #nazi-party

But then he touched the flowers With the dry tips of his fingers. "Tell me how men kiss you. Tell me how you kiss. ↗

— Anna Akhmatova

#the-guest #the-visitor #men

There is only one salvation for you: take yourself up, and make yourself responsible for all the sins of men. For indeed it is so, my friend, and the moment you make yourself sincerely responsible for everything and everyone, you will see at once that it is really so, that it is you who are guilty on behalf of all and for all. Whereas by shifting your own laziness and powerlessness onto others, you will end by sharing in Satan's pride and murmuring against God. The Brothers Karamazov Book VI - The Russian Monk, Chapter 3 - Conversations and Exhortations of Father Zosima. ↗

— Fyodor Dostoyevsky

#eastern-orthodox #god #holiness #orthodox #piety

Processions, meetings, military parades, lectures, waxwork displays, film shows, telescreen programs all had to be organized; stands had to be erected, effigies built, slogans coined, songs written, rumours circulated, photographs faked. ↗

— George Orwell

#orwell #russian-revolution #satire #satire

When men are arrested without any legal basis and for political reasons, it's merely a routine, everyday occurrence in Russia, and hardly anyone has any sympathy. ↗

— Alexei Navalny

#anyone #arrested #basis #everyday #hardly

I had a minor in Russian history, and this was at the time when the big Cold War was going on. ↗

— Kevin J. Anderson

#cold #cold war #going #had #history

I had to choose between American and British actors, and it didn't take me more than a second to decide: Russians are Europeans and should be played by other Europeans. ↗

— Jean-Jacques Annaud

#between #british #british actors #choose #decide

The dramatic wish of Romanians at the end of the Second World War was to be occupied by the Americans and not by the Russians. ↗

— Traian Basescu

#end #occupied #russians #second #second world war