Notable/Famous Quotes from Poor Folk

“Ah me, but old age is not always a blessing, my beloved one!”

“I am not a fastidious man, nor one who requires much. Never in my life have I been so comfortable as now.”

“Up to the age of fourteen, when my father died, my childhood was the happiest period of my life.”

“What a splendid thing is literature, Barbara—what a splendid thing! It strengthens and instructs the heart of man.”

“Rubbish, rubbish, Barbara!—What you say is sheer rubbish.”

“Why do I do my official work at all? Why is that necessary? Will my doing of it lead anyone who reads it to give me a greatcoat, or to buy me a new pair of shoes?”

“Today I sat before my colleagues like a bear’s cub or a plucked sparrow, so that I fairly burned with shame.”

“O Barbara Alexievna, I am undone—we are both of us undone! Both of us are lost beyond recall! Everything is ruined—my reputation, my self-respect, all that I have in the world!”

“Take this. It is as much as I can afford. Treat it as you like.”

“By that act he restored me to myself. By that act he revived my courage, he made life forever sweet to me….”

“Do not, do not forget your poor Barbara!”

“Style? I do not know what I am writing. I never do know what I am writing.”