Prince Andrei Bolkonsky

"Suffering teaches us to show compassion to others."

"Man is born for action—to be doing something, to be having an effect."

"A man can endure anything if he knows it is his duty."

"Life has meaning only if one is acting on principles."

"To fear is natural; to overcome fear is heroic."

"We are the slaves of circumstances."

"The moment of battle is a moment of truth."

"We accept the impossible and reject the possible."

"The heart of man lies in the depths of his silence."

"One must never despair, for despair itself is a kind of defeat."

"The most profound truth is often the simplest."

"The wound of conscience leaves a scar that never fully heals."

"The most difficult thing in life is to know oneself"

"Death is nothing to fear when life has been lived fully"

"To change the course of history, one must first change oneself"

"War is not courtesy but the most dreadful thing in life."

"The very aim of life seems to me to be to realize the good in oneself."

"Courage is not the temporary absence of fear. It is action in spite of fear."

"Everything comes in time to those who wait."

"A man is born for action, and activity is his calling."

"I suddenly felt that I had nothing to do with all that was going on around me."

"One must forgive much to the dead."

"One must trust in something, or life becomes impossible."

"Wisdom consists in not pushing against fate."

"What is the use of my life if I am to be judged like all other men?"

"Passion is the only authentic response to life."

"We Russians are a strange people in this respect"

"All that is important lies outside the sphere of our reason"

"Death is not an evil, because it is universal"

"The soul is eternal and beautiful"