It is not because the truth is too difficult to see that we make mistakes... we make mistakes because the easiest and most comfortable course for us is to seek insight where it accords with our emotions - especially selfish ones.

It is easier to be wise for others than for ourselves.

We do not err because truth is difficult to see. It is visible at a glance. We err because this is more comfortable.

Art extends each man’s short time on earth by carrying from man to man the whole complexity of other men’s lifelong experience, with all its burdens, colors and flavor.

The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between political parties either—but right through every human heart.

It’s an universal law—intolerance is the first sign of an inadequate education. An ill-educated person behaves with arrogant impatience, whereas truly profound education breeds humility.

In our country the lie has become not just a moral category but a pillar of the State.

If decade after decade the truth cannot be told, each person’s mind begins to roam irretrievably. One’s fellow countrymen become harder to understand than Martians.

How can you expect a man who’s warm to understand one who’s cold?

The Gulag archipelago.