"Once upon a time an artist who had painted a small and very beautiful picture placed it so that he could see it in the mirror..."

"I was about to light a cigarette, the cigarette of satisfaction, when, at that very moment, a laugh burst out behind me."

"It looked as though it had been built for all time. But this was not so. For it was built on sand, and of sand; and the tide was coming..."

"The black trees stood around me, rustling, and I loved them. Stars shone down from above, and I breathed in their white salutation."

"When I grew up it seemed to me that the one advantage of living in London was that nobody ever wanted me to come out for a walk."

"Now Ziegler felt deeply horrified, for ever since he swallowed the magic pill, he had understood the language of animals."

"The fact that the student enjoyed his happiness only in a dream should not diminish it ..."

"Oh, how he yearned to feel the vibration between himself and everything in the world !"

"Your sensitive, responsive soul is seeking to escape from the maze of... Yes, the struggle is terrific, titanic. But do not lose heart !"

[Short story] "When Narcissus died, the pool of his pleasure changed from a cup of sweet waters into a cup of salt tears..."

"If someone asked me what I deserve, I would say in all honesty before God that I deserve hard labor. Not because of Tiflis, however..."

[Text] "Vanka Zhukov, a boy of nine, who had been for three months apprenticed to Alyahin the shoemaker, was sitting up on Christmas Eve..."

[Text] "- Gentlemen, I stake two million !" "- Agreed ! You stake your millions and I stake my freedom !" said the young man."