#russia

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

— Yevgeny Yevtushenko

#poets #russia #their #tyrants #worst

The enchanted world arising out of the dim mists of the past, into which he just stepped, quivered-and disappeared. ↗

— Ivan Turgenev

#point-of-view #russia #intelligence

Life is like invading Russia. A blitz start, massed shakos, plumes dancing like a flustered henhouse; a period of svelte progress recorded in ebullient despatches as the enemy falls back; then the beginning of a long, morale-sapping trudge with rations getting shorter and the first snowflakes upon your face. The enemy burns Moscow and you yield to General January, whose fingernails are very icicles. Bitter retreat. Harrying Cossacks. Eventually you fall beneath a boy-gunner's grapeshot while crossing some Polish river not even marked on your general's map. ↗

— Julian Barnes

#life #life

There was something terrible, but also something sad and melancholy in this long cry uttered by the Russian infantry as they staged an attack. As it crossed the cold water, it lost its fervour. Instead of valour or gallantry, you could hear the sadness of a soul parting with everything that it loved, calling on its nearest and dearest to wake up, to lift their head from their pillows and hear for the last time the voice of a father, a husband, a son or a brother... ↗

— Vasily Grossman

#soldiers #ussr #war #ww #love

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

I took a speed-reading course and read War and Peace in twenty minutes. It involves Russia. ↗

— Woody Allen

#i #involves #minutes #peace #read

Knowing what I knew about Russia, as much as I loved the music and was fascinated by the songs and the whole idea of it, I knew it would be a very lengthy and frustrating process. ↗

— Marc Almond

#fascinated #frustrating #i #idea #knew

In emerging democracies like Russia, in authoritarian states like Iran or even Yugoslavia, journalists play a vital role in civil society. In fact, they form the very basis of those new democracies and civil societies. ↗

— Christiane Amanpour

#basis #civil #civil society #democracies #emerging

So you had to rev your engines, to beat the Russians and I think more than anything, if the Soviet team would win, or the Soviet athletes would win, you would see and hear and read about that. Quite frequently. So they would make a big issue of it. ↗

— Ralph Boston

#anything #athletes #beat #big #big issue