Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotes by Mikhail Lermontov (Russian Novelist, Poet)

Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov (1814–41) was a Russian Romantic poet, novelist, dramatist, and painter. Sometimes called “the poet of the Caucasus,” he was the most famous Russian poet after Alexander Pushkin’s death in 1837 and the embodiment of Russian Romanticism.

Born in Moscow, Lermontov started attending the University of Moscow in 1830, but withdrew and entered the elite Guards School in St. Petersburg. By age 18, he had written more than 300 lyric poems, three plays, and some narrative poems. His earliest works were the narrative poems The Corsair (1828) and Two Odalisques (1830.)

Strongly influenced by Lord Byron and other European forerunners and contemporaries, Lermontov wrote lyric and narrative poetry on the themes of disenchantment, rebellion, and personal freedom. His verse melodrama The Masquerade (1836) was heavily censored and published in full only in 1873. His prose magnum opus, the novel A Hero of our Time (1840,) has been much translated.

In romantic poems and ballads, such as The Demon (1830–41,) Tamara (1841,) and The Combat (1841,) Lermontov used motifs from folklore, mainly Transcaucasian, which he knew well from his journeys. He also wrote the fairy tale in prose Ashik-Kerib (1846) based on an oriental folk story.

Lermontov’s contributions to Russian literature are exceptional given his short life, which ended when he was killed in a duel while on exile to the Caucasus. His influence on later Russian literature is still felt in modern times, not only through his poetry but also through his prose, which established the tradition of the Russian psychological novel.

More: Wikipedia READ: Works by Mikhail Lermontov

We practically always excuse things when we understand them
Mikhail Lermontov
Topics: Behavior, Judgement, Character, Morality, Understanding

No good ever becomes of a man who forgets an old friend
Mikhail Lermontov

An unusual beginning must have an unusual end.
Mikhail Lermontov

True, we might never have arrived, but the fact is we did. If only people thought a little more about it, they would see that life is not worth worrying about so much.
Mikhail Lermontov

Afraid of decision, I buried my finer feelings in the depths of my heart and they died there.
Mikhail Lermontov

Love, like fire, goes out without fuel.
Mikhail Lermontov
Topics: Love

Happy people are ignoramuses and glory is nothing else but success, and to achieve it one only has to be cunning.
Mikhail Lermontov

The story of a man’s soul, however trivial, can be more interesting and instructive than the story of a whole nation
Mikhail Lermontov

Passions are merely ideas in their initial stage. They are the property of youth, and anyone who expects to feel their thrill throughout his life is a fool. Tranquil rivers often begin as roaring waterfalls, but no river leaps and foams all the way to the sea. Tranquility, however, is often a sign of great, if hidden, power. Intensity and depth of feeling and thought preclude wild outbursts of passion; in sorrow and joy the soul takes careful stock of every situation, and sees that so it must be.
Mikhail Lermontov

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