The Greatest Classic Russian literature Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev is known not only for his stories ("Mumu", "Bezhin Lug") and novels ("Fathers and Sons"), but also thanks to the well-known prose poem about the "great and mighty". He not only managed to bring into our lives such a concept as nihilism in the image of Bazarov, but also to create the image of a "Turgenev woman." Let's listen to his quotes and sayings. 
If one good thing went away with youth, then the rest of the ages human life would seem so unbearable that every individual would cut his own throat in the thirty-second year. Many squabbles swim in the noisy waves of youth and sail away with them; and yet there is nothing better than these waves.
People spoiled in childhood retain a special imprint until the end of their lives.
Music is the mind embodied in beautiful sounds.
O youth! Youth! .. Maybe the whole secret of your charms is not the ability to do everything, but the ability to think that you will do everything.
Argue with a man smarter than you: he will defeat you, but from your very defeat you can benefit for yourself. Argue with a man of equal mind: whoever wins, at least you will experience the pleasure of fighting. Argue with a man of the weakest mind: argue not out of a desire to win, but you can be useful to him. Argue even with a fool! You will not get any fame or profit ... But why not have some fun sometimes!
Exceptions, you know, only prove the rule. - "Smoke"
The word "tomorrow" was invented for indecisive people - and for children; I, like a child, comforted myself with this magic word. - "Andrey Kolosov"
It [happiness] is like health: when you do not notice it, then it is there. - "Faust"
Honesty gave him the right to be ruthless and not to do unspecified good; and he was ruthless - and did no good ... because good by decree is not good. - Poems in prose, "Egoist"
Love, I thought stronger than death and fear of death. Only it, only love keeps and moves life. - Poems in prose, "Sparrow" 
In days of doubt, in days of painful reflections on the fate of my homeland, you alone are my support and support, O great, powerful, truthful and free Russian language! Without you - how not to fall into despair at the sight of everything that happens at home? But one cannot believe that such a language was not given to a great people! - Poems in prose, "Russian language"
I took a carriage and went to Iburg - a castle located on one of the highest peaks of the Black Forest to the Rhine: from there the entire Alsace valley to Strasbourg is visible. The weather was clear, and the line of the Vosges mountains was clearly drawn in the sky. The cannonade ceased a few minutes before my arrival at Yburg; but directly against the mountain, on the other side of the Rhine, from behind a long dense forest, huge clouds of black, white, gray, red smoke rose: it was a whole city burning ... Further, towards the Vosges, more cannon shots were heard, but weaker ... It was obvious, that the French are defeated and are retreating. - "Letters on the Franco-Prussian War"
However, in Lately not only music occupied the inhabitants of "Northern Palmyra". We were amused by the learned birds of Mr. Galyusha, the maternal tenderness and the tricks of the monkey, about the successful resolution of which such touching notices appeared in the statements - tricks, however, not very pleasantly reminding us, people, the rulers of the universe and aristocrats, that we are in a fairly close relationship. relationship with these plebeians, four-armed creatures, etc. - "Modern Notes" 
Have you noticed - that on the oak - and the oak is a strong tree - the old leaves fall off only when the young ones begin to break through? Exactly the same thing happens with old love in a strong heart: it has already died out, but it still holds on; just another new love can survive it. - "Rudin"
Anyone who happened to move from the Volkhov district to Zhizdrinsky was probably struck by the sharp difference between the breed of people in the Oryol province and the Kaluga breed. The Oryol muzhik is small in stature, round-shouldered, gloomy, looks frowningly, lives in wretched aspen huts, goes to corvee, does not engage in trade, eats poorly, wears bast shoes; The Kaluga quitrent peasant lives in spacious pine huts, is tall, looks bold and cheerful, has a clean and white face, sells oil and tar, and wears boots on holidays. The Oryol village (we are talking about the eastern part of the Oryol province) is usually located among plowed fields, near a ravine, somehow turned into a dirty pond. Except for a few willows, always ready for service, and two or three skinny birches, you won’t see a tree for a mile around; The hut is molded to the hut, the roofs are thrown over with rotten straw ... The Kaluga village, on the contrary, is mostly surrounded by forest; the huts stand freer and straighter, covered with a hemp; the gates are tightly locked, the wattle fence in the backyard is not swept out and does not fall out, it does not call any passing pig to visit ... - "Khor and Kalinich", 1847
In some places, in the distance, ripening rye turns yellow, buckwheat turns red in narrow stripes. - "Forest and steppe", 1848
In Moscow, an amazing change took place with me. Abroad, I was silent for the most part, but then suddenly I spoke unexpectedly briskly and at the same time dreamed of myself, God knows what. There were condescending people to whom I seemed almost a genius; ladies with participation listened to my rantings; but I have not been able to maintain myself at the height of my glory. One fine morning, a gossip was born about me (I don’t know who brought it into the world of God: it must have been some old maid of the male sex - there are a lot of such old maids in Moscow), was born and began to let offspring and antennae, like strawberries . I got confused, I wanted to jump out, break the sticky threads, - it wasn’t there ... I left. - "Hamlet of the Shchigrovsky district", 1849 
Our life does not depend on us; but we all have one anchor from which, if you don’t want to, you will never break: a sense of duty. - "Yakov Pasynkov", 1855
It can be seen that our shortcomings grow on the same soil as our virtues, and it is difficult to tear out one while sparing the other. - A few words about the new comedy by Mr. Ostrovsky "The Poor Bride", 1851
Play, have fun, grow, young forces, life is ahead of you, and it will be easier for you to live: you will not have to, like us, find your way, fight, fall and get up in the midst of darkness; we fussed about how to survive - and how many of us did not survive! - and you need to do business, work, and the blessing of our brother, the old man, will be with you. And after today, after these sensations, it remains for me to give you my last bow - and, although with sadness, but without envy, without any dark feelings, say, in view of the end, in view of the waiting God: “Hello, lonely old age! Burn down, useless life!" - " Noble Nest", 1859
We ourselves, in our lifetime, in our wanderings, have seen people die for the equally little existing Dulcinea or for a rude and often dirty something in which they saw the realization of their ideal and the transformation of which they also attributed to the influence of the evil ones - we almost said : magicians - evil accidents and personalities. We saw them, and when such people are gone, let the history book be closed forever! there will be nothing to read. - "Hamlet and Don Quixote", 1860
Nature is not a temple, but a workshop, and man is a worker in it. - Fathers and Sons, 1862
The old thing is death, but new for everyone. - "Fathers and Sons", 1862 
The ancient Greeks did not say for nothing that the last and highest gift of the gods to man is a sense of proportion. - " Literary evening at P.A. Pletnev’s, 1869
I do not think that my Westernism has deprived me of any sympathy for Russian life, any understanding of its peculiarities and needs. - "Instead of an introduction", 1869
Sanin weighed out a quarter of a pound, found a piece of paper, made a horn out of it, wrapped up the cakes, spilled them, wrapped them up again, spilled them again, gave them away, finally got the money ... The guy looked at him in amazement, shifting his hat on his stomach, and in the next room Gemma, holding her mouth, was dying of laughter. Before this buyer had time to leave, another appeared, then a third ... “Apparently, my hand is light!” Sanin thought. The second asked for a glass of orchada, the third for half a pound of candy. Sanin satisfied them, clattering his spoons with passion, moving the saucers around, and dashing his fingers into the boxes and jars. When calculating, it turned out that he sold the orshad cheaply, and took two superfluous cruisers for the sweets. Gemma did not stop laughing in secret, and Sanin himself felt extraordinary gaiety, a kind of especially happy state of mind. It seemed as if he would have been standing behind the counter for a century and selling sweets and orchad, while that sweet creature looks at him from behind the door with friendly-mocking eyes, and the summer sun, breaking through the powerful foliage of chestnut trees growing in front of the windows, fills the whole room. greenish gold of midday rays, midday shadows, and the heart basks in sweet languor of laziness, carelessness and youth - original youth! - "Spring Waters", 1872 
Whatever a person prays for, he prays for a miracle. Every prayer boils down to the following: “Great God, make sure that twice two is not four!”<...>
But can even a personal, living, figurative God make sure that two times two is not four?
Every believer is obliged to answer: he can - and is obliged to convince himself of this.
But what if his mind rebelled against such nonsense?
Here Shakespeare will come to his aid: "There are many things in the world, friend Horatio ...", etc.
And if they object to him in the name of truth, he should repeat the famous question: "What is truth?"
And therefore: we will drink and be merry - and pray. - "Prayer", 1881 
From letters
For a man with a heart, there is only one fatherland - democracy, and if the Russians win [in Hungary], she will be dealt death blow. - From a letter to P. Viardot dated June 10, 1849
— Turgenev on the Hungarian Revolution
I am sending you a small list of misprints - as you will see, there are very few of them - except for two, three - they are insignificant - so I have to thank you and Annenkov very much (thanks also for correcting my "lapsus calami" about Frankfurt). - from a letter to Mikhail Stasyulevich dated January 3, 1872 
About him
… As far as I can judge from what I have read, his talent is remarkable and promises great activity in the future. - Letter to P. V. Annenkov September 7, 1847, Ostend.
- Nikolay Gogol
Turgenev is of enormous stature, with high shoulders, a huge head, extremely large features, almost gray hair, although he is only 35 years old. Probably, many even find him handsome, but the expression on his face, especially his eyes, is sometimes so disgusting that one can stop with pleasure on the face of Father Hilferding. I decidedly did not like Turgenev, he made an unpleasant impression on me. I looked at him with attention and listened to his words, and this is what I can say. This is a person, besides having no idea of any faith, except that he spent his whole life immorally and whose concepts were polluted from such a life, this is a person who is only capable of experiencing physical sensations; all his impressions pass through the nerves, he is unable to understand or feel the spiritual side of the subject. Spiritual, I do not speak in the sense of faith, but a person, even a non-believer, or a Mohammedan, is able to break away for a while from earthly and material impressions, one in the realm of thought, another under the impression of graceful beauty in art. But with Turgenev, thought is the fruit of his purely earthly sensations, and he himself expressed himself about poetry that poems make a physical impression on him, and he seems to judge whether they are good or not; and when he reads them with special warmth and animation, this fever conveys some kind of internal physical irritation, and the beauties of pure poetry already come out of his mouth impure. He has some aspirations for something more delicate, for some soulfulness, but not spiritual; he is all - a man of impressions, sensations, a man in whom there is not even pagan strength and loftiness of the soul, some kind of spiritual flabbiness, as well as bodily, despite his huge figure. And Konstantin began to think that Turgenev was drawing closer to him, converging with his views, and that he could completely abandon his former one, but I consider this absolutely impossible. Khomyakov rightly said that it is the same as thinking that a fish can live without water. Precisely, this is his element, and only God alone can perform an unnatural miracle that will defeat the elements, but, of course, not man. Konstantin himself, it seems, is convinced of this and, at parting, came into strong indignation from the words of Turgenev, who said that Belinsky and his letter are his whole religion, etc. ... I'm not talking about his erroneous thoughts and immoral views, about his gastronomic tastes in life, as Konstantin rightly called his attitude to life, and I am talking only about those inner properties of his soul, about the reserve lying at the bottom of his entire inner being, acquired, of course, by such a distorted and ugly life and direction, but has already become his second nature. In such a state, it seems to me that if God does not perform a miracle on him and if he does not crush all of himself, all his aspirations and approaches to what he calls good will only confuse him even more, and then he will completely justify the verses of Constantine.
- Vera Aksakova, "Diary of 1855"
Any remarkable or strong phenomenon has its own, often unsuccessful imitators. In recent years, our literature Lermontov was such a phenomenon and also carried away many unsuccessful imitators; Among them is Mr. Turgenev, who, like Lermontov, writes both in verse and in prose. Before us is now his small poem "Conversation", written in the size "Mtsyri". We will try to convey to the readers the content of this work, written listlessly, not having a single passage that one would like to write out.
— Konstantin Aksakov, On Ivan Turgenev's Conversation
Of course, such loading was slower, and when Turgenev had to wait for me, he always called my shells "satanic". I remember once how his dog picked up a brood of black grouse, on which he gave two misses and which then flew at me. My two shots were also unsuccessful towards the flying brood, which perched on a low juniper between Turgenev and me. What could be better than such a failure? Could anything be more magnificent than the forthcoming field? It was only necessary one by one to choose the scattered black grouse. Turgenev hurriedly loaded his gun, calling Bubulka to his feet, and shouted from a distance to me, hastily loading the gun: “Again these satanic shells! Don't let your dog go! Don't let her wander! After all, she can stumble upon a black grouse, and then she will have to tear her guts again.
- Afanasy Fet, "My memories", 1890
My God! What a luxury "Fathers and Sons"! Just at least shout the guard. Bazarov's illness was made so strong that I became weak and there was a feeling as if I had contracted it from him. And the end of Bazarov? What about old people? And Kukshina? It's the devil knows how it's done. Simply brilliant. I don't like everything on The Eve except Elena's father and the ending. This ending is full of tragedy. “Dog” is very good: the language here is amazing. Please read if you forgot. "Asya" is sweet, "Calm" is crumpled and does not satisfy. I don't like smoke at all. "Nest of Nobles" is weaker than "Fathers and Sons", but the ending also looks like a miracle. In addition to the old woman in Bazarov, i.e., Evgeny’s mother and mothers in general, especially secular ladies, to<ото>rye all, however, resemble one another (Liza's mother, Elena's mother), and Lavretsky's mother, a former serf, and even simple women, all the women and girls of Turgenev are unbearable in their artificiality and, forgive me, falseness. Liza, Elena are not Russian girls, but some kind of Pythia, broadcasting, replete with pretensions out of order. Irina in "Smoke", Odintsova in "From<цах>and children”, in general lionesses, burning, appetizing, insatiable, looking for something - they are all nonsense. As you remember Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, all these Turgenev ladies with their seductive shoulders fly to hell. Female negative types, where Turgenev slightly caricatures (Kukshina) or jokes (description of the balls), are wonderfully drawn and succeeded to such an extent that, as they say, a mosquito will not undermine his nose. Descriptions of nature are good, but ... I feel that we are already weaning from descriptions of this kind and that something else is needed.
- Anton Chekhov
Finished rereading two stories by Turgenev. The craftsmanship is amazing, but in general I read indifferently - some exceptions. pages. Something (almost everything, to be more precise) was read as new, so Turgenev is forgotten. One "Polesie" almost everything is truly beautiful. In almost all the stories - yes, it seems, even in all - there is a rare wealth of absolutely their own, amazing in their accuracy, definitions of feelings and thoughts, faces and objects.
- Ivan Bunin, Through the Mouth of the Bunins, 1940
The great Russian writer Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev significantly influenced the development of Russian literature. His work is known all over the world, and quotes from greatest works are full deep meaning and relevance at all times.
Childhood and youth
Birthday Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev, future Russian writer, celebrated October 28 (November 9), starting in 1818. From noble family, since childhood, he was not deprived of either attention or financial resources.
In 1827, the family moved to Moscow, where Ivan Sergeevich received an excellent basic education. Receive higher education future writer went to Petersburg and Germany. Little Ivan was inspired by his mother to love literature. She often quoted the works of M. Lermontov, A. Pushkin, N. Gogol. He also had his own valet who developed a love of reading. Mother supported her beloved offspring financially, until 1940, until a conflict broke out between them and she was tired of fulfilling the requests of an ungrateful son.
The formation of Ivan Sergeevich as a writer
After graduating from the University of Berlin in 1841, Turgenev faces a choice about what to do in the future. Initially, Ivan Sergeevich planned to teach, but by chance he manages to publish his poem Parasha. From that moment on, the goal in life was determined.
Writing swallowed up young man with head. First attempts at writing poetic works were in their third year at the university. Turgenev actively wrote poetry and even published his works several times in a magazine. Now it has become the main occupation. Turgenev's quotes are often used in their epigraphs by other writers.
Contemporaries emphasized the external discrepancy between Ivan Sergeevich and his inner world and high pitched voice. This one is full of contradictions, which are still wonderfully combined. Despite its noble origin, he was an ardent opponent of serfdom. Perhaps this was the reason why the life of village families was taken as the basis for the majority.
Through his works, the writer reflects all social change of his time:
- Life and culture of ordinary villagers.
- The desire of the villagers to develop their horizons and become equal to the townspeople.
- Rise of the ideal human personality during the abolition of serfdom.
- The changing role of women in society.
Ivan Sergeevich's personal life was not as successful as his literary one. In his youth, the stately handsome man had several novels. He even almost married the seamstress Avdotya, from whom he had an illegitimate daughter. But the writer's mother opposed the marriage and separated the lovers.
In 1845, the writer's muse appears in the image of the singer Pauline Viardot, who was married to the Frenchman Louis Viardot. Because of this friendship, disagreements with the mother begin, to the point that she ceases to support her son financially. For a rich man, as he was considered, who always loved to look brand new, this is a rather difficult test. But against all odds, he and the Viardot family leave for France.
Literary features of the works of I. S. Turgenev
The writer often refers to the landscape. He loves to describe rural nature, saturating it bright colors and bringing it to life in the minds of readers.
“The dark, clear sky solemnly and immensely stood high above us with all its mysterious splendor”- Turgenev's quote from the story "Bezhin Meadow".
The writer did a great job female images. For example, Asya, beloved by all readers. Turgenev often uses in his works prototypes of girls for whom he had any feelings. Simplicity, modesty and sincerity - distinguishing feature Turgenev heroines. For this he deserves the love of his readers.
Quotes by Turgenev
Ivan Sergeevich made a great contribution to the development Russian literature. Below are some quotes from the most famous works writer.
Quotes from Ivan Turgenev's story "Asya" are filled with a wonderful feeling.
"Happiness has no tomorrow; he does not have yesterday either; it does not remember the past, does not think about the future; he has a present - and that is not a day, but an instant.
No less thoughtful quotes from Turgenev's "Mumu".
« There is only one judge for me: the Lord God himself, and no one else. He alone knows what kind of person I am in this world, and whether I eat bread for free.
But Turgenev's quotes about love are the most popular.
“Only the one who loves has the right to blame, scold.”
Self-love is God's suicide, self-love is the other side of the coin, which leads to the Olympus of immortality in striving for ideal life and excellence in thought and deed.
Life glimmers with love in the mortal body, courageously pushing it through the traps and traps of existence. - Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev
For whom the sense of duty is like the anchor of a minesweeper, and for whom it is a hook or a lasso. You can break loose, but only into the abyss or pool of passions and vice.
Not everyone is able to break egoism, releasing it into a free, but controlled swimming of frailty.
They compare time with a bird, or with a turtle - the essence does not change. When a person is well, he does not notice the time, deceiving himself that the hour stands as a stump.
Turgenev: A pure source is sometimes able to reproduce the striving for perfection, which, having reached the goal, will change the world with majestic benefit.
Our Russian language is the most powerful Slavic weapon of persuasion and authority. It contains the treasure of predecessors, which we are obliged to multiply with a palette of literature and preserve for future generations.
Self-love moves mountains. The characteristic Archimedean lever can knock the Earth out of orbit.
Continuation famous aphorisms and Turgenev's quotes read on the pages:
The old thing is death, but new for everyone.
The unfading laurel with which he is crowned great person, falls also on the forehead of his people.
A man is weak, a woman is strong, chance is omnipotent, it is difficult to come to terms with a colorless life, it is impossible to completely forget oneself, but here is beauty and participation, here is warmth and light - where is there to resist? And you will run like a child to a nanny.
Every love, happy, as well as unhappy, is a real disaster when you give yourself all to it.
The one who does not have at least a drop of hope is not jealous.
It is ridiculous to be afraid - not to love the truth.
Laughter for no reason is the best laugh in the world.
Nothing is more tiring than a gloomy mind.
Before eternity, they say, all trifles - yes; but in that case, eternity itself is a trifle.
Russia can do without each of us, but none of us can do without it. Woe to the one who thinks this, doubly woe to the one who really does without it.
Only those people remain misunderstood who either do not yet know what they want, or are not worthy of being understood.
It is impossible to believe that such a language was not given to a great people.
Happiness is like health: when you do not notice it, it means that it is there.
Who aspires to high purpose, no longer have to think about yourself.
Outside of nationality there is no art, no truth, no life, nothing.
Life is nothing but a contradiction constantly conquered.
Every Prayer boils down to the following: “Great God, make sure that twice two is not four.”
there are three categories of egoists: egoists who themselves live and let others live; egoists who themselves live and do not let others live; finally, egoists who do not live themselves and do not give to others ...
Marriage based on mutual inclination and reason is one of the greatest blessings of human life.
Oh youth! Youth! Maybe the whole secret of your charm is not in the ability to do everything, but in the ability to think that you will do everything.
A chance to do something will come out - fine, but if it doesn’t work out - at least you will be satisfied that you didn’t talk in vain in advance.
Nature is not a temple, but a workshop, and man is a worker in it.
In days of doubt, in days of painful reflections on the fate of my homeland - you are my only support and support, oh great, powerful, truthful and free Russian language! .. you can’t believe that such a language was not given to a great people!
A man can say that twice two is not four, but five or three and a half, and a woman will say that twice two is a stearin candle.
Nature awakens in us the need for love ...
Do you still not know if you have a talent? Give it time to ripen; and even if it does not turn out to be, does a person really need a poetic talent in order to live and act?
The strong do not need happiness.
This woman, when she comes to you, as if all the happiness of your life is bringing you to meet ...
Honesty was his capital, and he took usurious interest from it.
There is nothing more painful than the consciousness of a stupidity just done.
Good by decree is not good.
Cosmopolitan - zero, worse than zero.
You can talk about everything in the world with fervor, with appetite you only talk about yourself.
Love is stronger than death and fear of death. Only her, only love holds and moves life.
Nowhere does time run so fast as in Russia; in prison, they say, it runs even faster.
Love is stronger than death and fear of death.
Excessive pride is the sign of an insignificant soul.
Pitiful is he who lives without an ideal!
Music is intelligence embodied in beautiful sounds.
Every thought is like a test; if you knead it well, you will make everything out of it.
Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev - was born on November 9, 1818 in the city of Orel, Russian empire. Russian writer, poet, translator, corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. The author of the books - Notes of a Hunter, Rudin, Noble Nest, Fathers and Sons, Provincial Girl, Mumu, Nov, etc. He died on September 3, 1883 in Bougival near Paris.
Aphorisms, quotes, sayings, phrases - Turgenev Ivan Sergeevich
- Good by decree is not good.
- Woe to the heart that did not love from a young age!
- The old thing is death, but new for everyone.
- Exceptions only confirm the rules.
- The one who does not have at least a drop of hope is not jealous.
- Music is intelligence embodied in beautiful sounds.
- There is nothing more painful than the consciousness of a stupidity just done.
- The word "tomorrow" was invented for indecisive people and for children.
- Yeah, go try denying death. She denies you, and that's it!
- Happiness is like health: when you do not notice it, it means that it is there.
- When the Don Quixotes are gone, let the book of history be closed. There will be nothing to read in it.
- A woman is not only able to understand self-sacrifice: she herself knows how to sacrifice herself.
- It was not for nothing that the ancient Greeks said that the last and highest gift of the gods to man is a sense of proportion.
- Love is stronger than death and fear of death. Only it, only love keeps and moves life.
- A real person, one about whom there is nothing to think about, but who must be obeyed or hated.
- Every prayer boils down to the following: "Great God, make sure that twice two is not four."
- A person without self-love is worthless. Self-love is an Archimedes lever that can move the earth from its place.
- We all have one anchor from which, if you do not want to, you will never break: a sense of duty.
- Our faults grow on the same soil as our virtues, and it is difficult to wrest one while sparing the other.
- Life is a reddish spark in the gloomy and mute ocean of Eternity, this is the only moment that belongs to us.
- O youth! Youth! .. Maybe the whole secret of your charms is not the ability to do everything, but the ability to think that you will do everything.
- Happiness has no tomorrow, it has no yesterday, it does not remember the past, does not think about the future, it has only the present - and that is not a day, but a moment.
- Poetry is not in verses alone: it is spilled everywhere, it is around us. Look at these trees, at this sky - beauty and life breathe from everywhere, and where there is beauty and life, there is poetry.
- There are three categories of egoists: egoists who themselves live and let others live; egoists who themselves live and do not let others live; finally, egoists who do not live themselves and do not allow others to live. Women for the most part belong to the third category.
- If one good thing went away with youth, then the rest of the ages of human life would seem so unbearable that every individual cut his own throat in the thirty-second year. Many squabbles swim in the noisy waves of youth and sail away with them; and yet there is nothing better than these waves.
- In days of doubt, in days of painful reflections on the fate of my homeland, you alone are my support and support, O great, powerful, truthful and free Russian language! Without you - how not to fall into despair at the sight of everything that happens at home? But one cannot believe that such a language was not given to a great people!
- Argue with a man smarter than you: he will defeat you, but from your very defeat you can benefit for yourself. Argue with a man of equal mind: whoever wins, at least you will experience the pleasure of fighting. Argue with a man of the weakest mind: argue not out of a desire to win, but you can be useful to him. Argue even with a fool! You will not get any fame or profit ... But why not have some fun sometimes!
