Life is not an easy matter... You cannot live through it without falling into frustration and cynicism unless you have before you a great idea which raises you above personal misery, above weakness, above all kinds of perfidy and baseness.

There are no absolute rules of conduct, either in peace or war. Everything depends on circumstances.

Ideas that enter the mind under fire remain there securely and for ever.

Life is not an easy matter... You cannot live through it without falling into frustration and cynicism unless you have before you a great idea which raises you above personal misery, above weakness, above all kinds of perfidy and baseness.

From being a patriotic myth, the Russian people have become an awful reality.

In a serious struggle there is no worse cruelty than to be magnanimous at an inopportune time.

If we had had more time for discussion we should probably have made a great many more mistakes.

Let a man find himself, in distinction from others, on top of two wheels with a chain - at least in a poor country like Russia - and his vanity begins to swell out like his tires. In America it takes an automobile to produce this effect.

The end may justify the means as long as there is something that justifies the end.

There is a limit to the application of democratic methods. You can inquire of all the passengers as to what type of car they like to ride in, but it is impossible to question them as to whether to apply the brakes when the train is at full speed and accident threatens.

Technique is noticed most markedly in the case of those who have not mastered it.

Where force is necessary, there it must be applied boldly, decisively and completely. But one must know the limitations of force; one must know when to blend force with a maneuver, a blow with an agreement.

You may not be interested in strategy, but strategy is interested in you.

Learning carries within itself certain dangers because out of necessity one has to learn from one's enemies.

England is nothing but the last ward of the European madhouse, and quite possibly it will prove to be the ward for particularly violent cases.

Old age is the most unexpected of all things that happen to a man.

Insurrection is an art, and like all arts has its own laws.

Revolutions are always verbose.

Fascism is nothing but capitalist reaction.

If we had more time for discussion we should probably have made a great many more mistakes.

The depth and strength of a human character are defined by its moral reserves. People reveal themselves completely only when they are thrown out of the customary conditions of their life, for only then do they have to fall back on their reserves.

Not believing in force is the same as not believing in gravity.

The historic ascent of humanity, taken as a whole, may be summarized as a succession of victories of consciousness over blind forces - in nature, in society, in man himself.

Everyone has the right to be stupid on occasion, but Comrade Macdonald abuses the privilege.

Art is not a mirror to hold up to society, but a hammer with which to shape it.

Communism needs democracy like the human body needs oxygen.

The concrete is a combination of abstractions not an arbitrary or subjective combination but one that corresponds to the laws of the movement of a given phenomenon.

Abusive language and swearing are a legacy of slavery humiliation and disrespect for human dignity ones own and that of other people.

The end may justify the means as long as there is something that justifies the end

The creative union of the conscious with the unconscious is what one usually calls 'inspiration.'

Abusive language and swearing are a legacy of slavery, humiliation, and disrespect for human dignity, one's own and that of other people.

The fundamental flaw of vulgar thought lies in the fact that it wishes to content itself with motionless imprints of a reality which consists of eternal motion.

When one runs with the wolves, one must howl with the pack.

Cynicism is full of naive disappointments.

Cynicism is intellectual treason.

The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.

I am most proud of my integrity and least proud of my cynicism.

I think we too often make choices based on the safety of cynicism, and what we're lead to is a life not fully lived. Cynicism is fear, and it's worse than fear - it's active disengagement.

Optimism with some experience behind it is much more energizing than plain old experience with a certain degree of cynicism.

If you're sick and tired of the politics of cynicism and polls and principles, come and join this campaign.

I think there ought to be a club in which preachers and journalists could come together and have the sentimentalism of the one matched with the cynicism of the other. That ought to bring them pretty close to the truth.

Life is not an easy matter... You cannot live through it without falling into frustration and cynicism unless you have before you a great idea which raises you above personal misery, above weakness, above all kinds of perfidy and baseness.

Irony differentiates. Cynicism never does.

I have no cynicism at all.

I read some of my stories recently and thought, 'How in the hell did I get away with that?' I had some really raw cynicism in some of them.

My level of cynicism about the reasons that took us to war against Iraq remain just as well-developed as they were before I went.

In the end, that's what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope?

Hypocrisy is the outside of cynicism.

The only deadly sin I know is cynicism.