Quotes from Sergei Lukyanenko

Drink your coffee, it clears out the brain in the morning

To put it simply, magic that is controlled by reason is more like a knife than a grenade launcher.

The common good and the individual good rarely coincide. Sure, I know it's true. But some truths are probably worse than lies.

Je l' ti znaš šta je to? Biti osu?en na ljubav? "Ali zar to nije uvijek?" Svetlana ?ak zadrhta od negodovanja. "Kada se dvoje vole, kada se pronalaze me?u tisu?ama, milijunima... To je uvijek sudbina!

The laws of nature are not intelligent,' I replied. 'The force of gravity is not intelligent. Electricity is not intelligent. A savage looking at a television might assume that it's a sapient being, but we—' 'A sapient being? Looking at a television these days, the only possible assumption is that it's a loud-mouthed, hysterical madman suffering from progressive mental debility,' Anna Tikhonovna said derisively.

That's the paradox, people aren't interested in reading about settling on Mars or flying to the stars—all the things that people really can achieve, but Others can't. But they dream about becoming magicians, rushing into battle with a big sharp sword…. If only they knew what the wounds from a real sword look like!…What does all this mean? That a medieval world in which magic exists is the one most attractive to people!

You're a big boy, you ought to understand that punctual transport, public order and safe streets, polite people and good medical services are all the achievements of dictatorship.

Die Prophezeiung muss grauenvoll gewesen sein", sagte Arina, um nach einer Weile hinzuzufügen. "Die Zeiten damals waren sehr schwer." "Leichte Zeiten gibt es nicht", stellte Fan klar.

If they do anything to me, just skin them alive, sweetheart," I said. "I'll do more than that-- I'll make them eat their own skins.

Where there's black, even grey looks white

Konjak, vino - tako se opija srce." " A votka, za šta je ona?" "Za dušu. Ako je bol neutoljiv.

Bet koks poelgis sukelia vis? grandin? ?vyki?. Koki? - priklauso ne nuo pa?io poelgio, o tik nuo poži?rio ? tave.

The number of people who will be horrified by what happens, who will spill tears of sympathy with others' grief, will be very great. But there will be more, infinitely more, who will sit with their eyes glued greedily to their TV screens, who will take pleasure in other people's suffering, feel glad that it passed their city by, and make jokes about the retribution meted out to the Third Rome . . . retribution from on high. You know that, my enemy.

What did a young body mean, when you could see the dust of the centuries in the other person's eyes?

at home the very walls lend you strength

The Crown of All Things is here concealed. Only one step is left. But this is a legacy for the strong or the wise— Foma

He enjoyed life for its own sake, not for material possessions. Life was the exact opposite of money, which in itself meant nothing.

They're shepherds. A shepherd eats the sheep, but he loves them, protects them against the wolves, tends the flock and helps it multiply.

Meil? akla, jeigu tu užsimerki. Meil? nekantri, ji laukia džiaugsmo, o ne laim?s.

N?ra ir niekada nebus Rojaus, o tik ledin?s pragaro lygumos, kuriose kiekvien? valand? kaupiasi žemiškojo pasaulio turtai. Šalti ir bežadžiai žmogiškojo gyvenimo krantai, kuriuose viešpatauja ne dvasia, o materija.

That said, a fireball like the one hurtling towards us was worthy of the utmost respect. To adopt the jargon of commercial managers, this was a Premium-Class Fireball. Speaking in poetic terms, it was a Tsar-Fireball. A biologist would have said it was an Alpha-Fireball. As a cool, calculating mathematician might have remarked, it was a fireball with a diameter of about three metres. It was a fireball fearsome enough to make you shit yourself!

You monsters," I said in horror. "Why? My friend was very pleased. He said now he understood what real Russian drunkenness was all about." "What is it about?" "It's about waking up in the morning with everything around you looking gray. Gray sky, gray sun, gray city, gray people, gray thoughts. And the only way out is to have another drink. Then you feel better. Then the colors come back.

How many of you there still are, girls and boys of various ages, raised by naïve parents in the sixties. How many of you there are, so unhappy, not knowing how to be happy. How I long to take pity on you, how I long to help you. To touch you through the Twilight—gently, with no force at all. To give you just a little confidence in yourself, just a tiny bit of optimism, a gram of willpower, a crumb of irony. To help you, so that you could help others.

It's about waking up in the morning with everything around you looking gray. Gray sky, gray sun, gray city, gray people, gray thoughts. And the only way out is to have another drink. Then you feel better. Then the colors come back.