Ivanov: Once I worked hard ...

Ivanov: Once I worked hard and thought a lot but I never got tired; now I do nothing and think of nothing, but I\'m tired in body and spirit. My conscience aches day and night, I feel deeply guilty but I don\'t understand where I am actually at fault. And add to that my wife\'s illness, my lack of money, the constant bickering, gossip, unnecessary conversations, that stupid Borkin... My home has become loathsome to me and I find living there worse than torture.
Ivanov: Once I worked hard and thought a lot but I never got tired; now I do nothing and think of nothing, but I'm tired in body and spirit. My conscience aches day and night, I feel deeply guilty but I don't understand where I am actually at fault. And add to that my wife's illness, my lack of money, the constant bickering, gossip, unnecessary conversations, that stupid Borkin... My home has become loathsome to me and I find living there worse than torture.

Quotes from the same author

Love, friendship and respect do not unite people as much as a common hatred for something.
People don't notice whether it's winter or summer when they're happy.
Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice.
My mother and father are the only people on the whole planet for whom I will never begrudge a thing. Should I achieve great things, it is the work of their hands; they are splendid people and their absolute love of their children places them above the highest praise. It cloaks all of their shortcomings, shortcomings that may have resulted from a difficult life.
To a chemist, nothing on earth is unclean. A writer must be as objective as a chemist; he must abandon the subjective line; he must know that dungheaps play a very respectable part in a landscape, and that evil passions are as inherent in life as good ones.