Quotes from Boris Akunin

Of the seven butchers who interest us, four are Tatars and three are Yids. They're at the top of the list of suspects. But, to avoid any reproaches of prejudice, I'm arresting the lot. And I'll give them a thorough working over. I

Have you ever heard of the law of large numbers? If you carry on betting large sums day after day, then sooner or later you are bound to win everything back." As far

All in all, Varya felt much the same as she had in the restaurant of the Hotel Royale when the men had caught the scent of blood and run wild, entirely forgetting that she even existed - yet another proof that by his very nature man was closer to the animal world than woman, that the feral principle was more pronounced in man, and therefore the true variety of Homo Sapiens was indeed woman, the more advanced, subtle and complex being.

Remember what it says in Matthew: And false prophets shall abound, and they shall deceive many'" "And from the multiplication of lawlessness, love shall grow cold in many," said Pelagia, continuing the apostolic citation. Dolinin started and gave the nun a strange look, as if he had just heard those words for the first time, or perhaps had never really thought about their meaning before.

Thanks to Azazel a man is able to practice arts and crafts and defend his home. Thanks to Azazel woman was transformed from a submissive bearer of children into an equal human being possessing the freedom to choose—whether to be ugly or beautiful, whether to be a mother or an Amazon, to live for the sake of her family or the whole of mankind.

He is only six years older than me. Ooh-ooh-ooh," she wailed in a quite unaristocratic, entirely demotic manner, like a peasant woman, and Dolgorukoi's composure dissolved completely.

You can get arrested if you live in Russia, and you say that there is war in Ukraine. You can only say "special operation". There is a popular joke in Russia: Tolstoy's War and Peace should be now renamed Special Operation and Peace.

He knew the way he spoke wasn't right, but it was the only way the words came. The thoughts in his head were precise and clear, their meaning was absolutely obvious. But when they emerged in the form of phrases, the superfluous husk simply fell away of its own accord and only the essential idea was left. Probably sometimes rather more fell away than ought to.

Mitrofanii frowned—he found women's tears hard to bear, especially if they were not shed out of self-indulgence but for some substantial reason, as now.

Don't count too much on God," said Mitrofanii, quenching his spiritual son's optimism. "He has plenty of other things to worry about besides boot heels.

an extremely important trip … just for a week, and there's no way I can possibly refuse. I'll be as quick as I can, on my word of honor." He was immediately ejected from her embrace and roundly abused in terms that were severe but just. He spent the night in the study, on the hard divan

At the festival of Easter, when we remember the Passion of Christ, the rooster signifies the Resurrection. Are you aware that the Cross, now the generally accepted symbol of Christianity, appeared only relatively recently, in the mid-fifth century? Until that time, Christians used other symbols, very frequently a rooster, which is an image of the Son of God Who came to awaken mankind.

But Pelagia didn't wait for the second circle: with a sickening squeal, she thrust the two needles straight through the cloth of the bag into the murderer's only eye. At the final moment she suddenly felt frightened: What if she hadn't remembered which eye was the natural one? However, to judge

sight. This peculiar settlement reminded the police chief somewhat of a picture from the book The Town in the Snuffbox, of which little Felix had been very fond in his childhood

I pay my teachers very well, because pedagogy is the most important of all the sciences

Gentlemen living after me!     Since you are reading this little letter of mine, I have already departed from you and gone on to learn the secret of death, which remains concealed from your eyes behind seven seals. I am free, while you must carry on living in torment and fear.

He used to be a German, but he completely recovered.

It is a well-known fact that the farther one travels from the capital, the nearer one approaches to God.

Yakov Mikhailovich, as we have already said, believed fervently in the power of the human intellect. There are no insoluble problems, only incompetent problem solvers.

I read somewhere that it's called American roulette. It was invented in America, in the goldfields. You put a single shot in the cylinder, give it a twirl, and then—bang! If you're lucky you break the bank; if not, then it's good-bye

The double-headed eagle that serves the Russian Empire as its crest illustrates quite magnificently the entire system of government of that country, where any matter of even the slightest importance is not entrusted to a single authority but at least two

God has no need of cold people.

What a shot! Now tell me Zurov wastes his time making holes in five-kopeck pieces! From forty paces straight into the back of the head, and you have to take the poor light into account.

The titular counselor buttoned up his collar and replied seriously: "If you live in a state, you should either ch-cherish it or leave it—anything else is either parasitism or mere lackeys' gossip.