Even at the time—twenty years old—I said to myself: better to go hungry, to go to prison, to be a tramp, than to sit at an office desk ten hours a day. There is no particular daring in this vow,… — Isaac Babel Copy Share Image
A well-thought-out story doesn’t need to resemble real life. Life itself tries with all its might to resemble a well-crafted story. — Isaac Babel Copy Share Image
No iron can stab the heart with such force as a period put just at the right place. — Isaac Babel Copy Share Image
“We slept, all six of us, beneath a wooden roof that let in the stars, warming one another, our legs intermingled. I dreamed: and… — Isaac Babel Copy Share Image
For me the whole world is like a gigantic theater in which I am the only spectator without opera glasses. The orchestra plays the… — Isaac Babel Copy Share Image
There is no iron that can enter the human heart with such stupefying effect, as a period placed at just the right moment. — Isaac Babel Copy Share Image
“No iron spike can pierce a human heart as icily as a period in the right place.” — Isaac Babel Copy Share Image
“Do you remember Zhitomir, Vasily? Do you remember the Teterev, Vasily, and that evening when the Sabbath, the young Sabbath tripped stealthily along the… — Isaac Babel Copy Share Image
She would lift her peignoir above her knees and say to her husband: 'Give baby a kiss...' — Isaac Babel Copy Share Image
No iron can pierce the human heart as chillingly as a full stop placed at the right time. — Isaac Babel Copy Share Image
The orange sky is rolling across the sky like a severed head, gentle light glimmers in the ravines among the clouds, the banners of… — Isaac Babel Copy Share Image
When a phrase is born, it is both good and bad at the same time. The secret of its success rests in a crux… — Isaac Babel Copy Share Image
A phrase is born into the world both good and bad at the same time. The secret lies in a slight, an almost invisible… — Isaac Babel Copy Share Image
Even at the time—twenty years old—I said to myself: better to go hungry, to go to prison, to be a tramp, than to sit… — Isaac Babel Copy Share Image
How late I learned the essential things in life! In my childhood, nailed to the Gemara, I led the life of a sage, and… — Isaac Babel Copy Share Image
