Alexander Pushkin Quotes

“I want to understand you,
I study your obscure language.”

— Alexander Pushkin

“I loved you: and, it may be, from my soul
The former love has never gone away,
But let it not recall to you my dole;
I wish not sadden you in any way.
I loved you silently, without hope, fully,
In diffidence, in jealousy, in pain;
I loved you so tenderly and truly,
As let you else be loved by any man.”

— Alexander Pushkin

“A deception that elevates us is dearer than a host of low truths.”

— Alexander Pushkin

“My whole life has been pledged to this meeting with you ...”

— Alexander Pushkin

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

— Alexander Pushkin

“I was not born to amuse the Tsars.”

— Alexander Pushkin

“Dearer to me than a host of base truths is the illusion that exalts.”

— Alexander Pushkin

“But even friendship like our heroes'
Exist no more; for we've outgrown
All sentiments and deem men zeroes
Except of course ourselves alone.
We all take on Napoleon's features,
And millions of our fellow creatures
Are nothing more to us than tools ...
Since feelings are for freaks and fools.
Eugene, of course, had keen perceptions
And on the whole despised mankind,
Yet wasn't, like so many, blind;
And since each rule permits exceptions,
He did respect a noble few,
And, cold himself, gave warmth its due.”

— Alexander Pushkin

He filled a shelf with a small army of books and read and read; but none of it made sense.. They were all subject to various cramping limitations: those of the past were outdated, and those of the present were obsessed with the past.

— Alexander Pushkin

People are so like their first mother Eve: what they are given doesn't take their fancy. The serpent is forever enticing them to come to him, to the tree of mystery. They must have the forbidden fruit, or paradise will not be paradise for them.

— Alexander Pushkin

“Epression still kept guard on him, and chased after him like a shadow - or like a faithful wife.”

— Alexander Pushkin

“Play interests me very much," said Hermann: "but I am not in the position to sacrifice the necessary in the hope of winning the superfluous.”

— Alexander Pushkin

“I love a friendly chat and a friendly glass of wine during the evening - the time they call, for some accountable reason, 'between dog and wolf'.”

— Alexander Pushkin

“Ecstasy is a glass full of tea and a piece of sugar in the mouth.
[From: 19 Lessons On Tea]”

— Alexander Pushkin

It's a lucky man who leaves early from life's banquet, before he's drained to the dregs his goblet - full of wine; yes, it's a lucky man who has not read life's novel to the end, but has been wise enough to part with it abruptly - like me with my Onegin.

— Alexander Pushkin

“In alien lands I keep the body
Of ancient native rites and things:
I gladly free a little birdie
At celebration of the spring.
I'm now free for consolation,
And thankful to almighty Lord:
At least, to one of his creations
I've given freedom in this world!”

— Alexander Pushkin

And these days I've come to prefer the more steady Bordeaux. I am no longer up to champagne from Ay: it's like a mistress: sparkling, flighty, vivacious, wayward - and not to be trusted. But Bordeaux is like a friend who in time of trouble and misfortune stands by us always, anywhere, ready to give us help, or just to share our quiet leisure. So raise your glasses - to our friend Bordeaux!

— Alexander Pushkin

“The less we love her when we woo her,
The more we draw a woman in,”

— Alexander Pushkin

“We've got to have forbidden fruit, Or Eden's joys for us are moot.”

— Alexander Pushkin

“We still, alas, cannot forestall it-
This dreadful ailment's heavy toll;
The spleen is what the English call it,
We call it simply, Russian soul.”

— Alexander Pushkin

“But flaming youth in all it's madness
Keeps nothing of its heart concealed:
It's loves and hates, its joys and sadness,
Are babbled out and soon revealed.”

— Alexander Pushkin

What is renoun?more false than hope by dreams engendered.

— Alexander Pushkin

“To love all ages yield surrender;
But to the young it's raptures bring
A blessing bountiful and tender-
As storms refresh the fields of spring.”

— Alexander Pushkin

“I saw Derzhavin only once in my life but shall never forget that occasion. It was in 1815 at a public examination in the Lyceum. When we boys learned Derzhavin was coming, all of us grew excited. Delvig went out on the stairs to wait for him and kiss his hand, the hand that had written 'The Waterfall.' Derzhavin arrived. Derzhavin entered the vestibule, and Delvig heard him ask the janitor: 'Where is the privy here, my good fellow?' This prosaic question disenchanted Delvig, who canceled his intent and returned to the reception hall. Delvig told me the story with wonderful bonhomie and good humor.”

— Alexander Pushkin

I've lived to se my longings die
I've lived to se my longings die:
My dreams and I have grown apart;
Now only sorrow haunts my eye,
The wages of a bitter heart.
Beneath the storms of hostile fate,
My flowery wreath has faded fast;
I live alone and sadly wait
To see when death will come at last.
Just so, when the winds in winter moan
And snow descends in frigid flakes,
Upon a naked branch, alone,
The final leaf of summer shakes! ...

— Alexander Pushkin

“I gaze forward without fear.”

— Alexander Pushkin

“Moral commonplaces are amazingly useful when we can find little in ourselves with which to justify our actions.”

— Alexander Pushkin

“Such a beginning presaged nothing good. However, I lost neither courage nor hope. I turned to the consolation of all those in distress, and for the first time tasted the sweetness of prayer, poured forth from a pure but riven heart. I fell asleep serenely, unworried as to what was to become of me.”

— Alexander Pushkin

He's happy now, he's almost sane.

— Alexander Pushkin

“Whoever the priest is, he is called Father.”

— Alexander Pushkin

We live without power of law, like flocks of ravens
they come and sweep over the land.

— Alexander Pushkin

“Enough! Clear-souled and far from wasted,
I start upon an untrod way
To take my rest from yesterday.”

— Alexander Pushkin

Ja volim samoubilacki-krvnicki nemilosrdno i brutalno. Necu drugacije. Ko to moze da izdrzi, a upoznah samo jednog. 'Moja je krv moj put do tebe.

— Alexander Pushkin

“I rode to meet you: dreams
like living beings swarmed around me
and the moon on my right side
followed me, burning.
I rode back: everything changed.
My soul in love was sad
and the moon on my left side
trailed me without hope.
To such endless impressions
we poets give ourselves absolutely,
making, in silence, omen of mere event,
until the world reflects the deepest needs of the soul.”

— Alexander Pushkin

It was thought that the confession of the accused was indispensable to his condemnation, an idea not only unreasonable, but contrary to the most simple good sense in matters of jurisprudence; for if the denial of the accused is not accepted as proof of his innocence, the confession which is torn from him by torture ought to serve still less as proof of his guilt.

— Alexander Pushkin

I do not like Moscow life. You live here not as you want to live, but as old women want you to.

— Alexander Pushkin

“I am married and happy. My only wish is that nothing will change.”

— Alexander Pushkin

Fearing no insult, asking for no crown, receive with indifference both flattery and slander, and do not argue with a fool.

— Alexander Pushkin

“I loved you; even now I may confess, Some embers of my love their fire retain; But do not let it cause you more distress, I do not want to sadden you again. Hopeless and tongue tied, yet I loved you dearly With pangs the jealous and the timid know; So tenderly I loved you, so sincerely, I pray God grant another love you so.”

— Alexander Pushkin

“Moscow ... how many strains are fusing in that one sound, for Russian hearts! what store of riches it imparts!”

— Alexander Pushkin

With womankind, the less we love them, the easier they become to charm.

— Alexander Pushkin

“Thank you, darling, for learning to play chess. It is an absolute necessity for any well organized family. (in a letter to his wife)”

— Alexander Pushkin

“Ballet is a dance executed by the human soul.”

— Alexander Pushkin

Mistress-like, its brilliance vain, highly capricious and inane ...

— Alexander Pushkin

“As long as there is one heart on Earth where I still live, my memory will not die.”

— Alexander Pushkin

Try to be forgotten. Go live in the country. Stay in mourning for two years, then remarry, but choose somebody decent.

— Alexander Pushkin

“Unrequited love is not an affront to man but raises him.”

— Alexander Pushkin

“Please, never despise the translator. He's the mailman of human civilization.”

— Alexander Pushkin

“Habit is Heaven's own redress:
it takes the place of happiness.”

— Alexander Pushkin

“A man who's active and incisive can yet keep nail-care much in mind: why fight what's known to be decisive? custom is despot of mankind.”

— Alexander Pushkin