The government (or humanity) would not permit capital punishment for one man, but they permitted the murder of millions a little at a time.

— Yevgeny Zamyatin

The moon climbed out of the ravine, blue, skinny, as if it had been fed on nothing but skimmed milk. It climbed out, and quickly slithered up and up along the finest thread-away from trouble, and on the very top it huddled, crouching on thin legs. ("The Protected Of Sinners")

— Yevgeny Zamyatin

The moon hangs alien, heavy, like a lock on a door; the door is tightly shut. ("The North")

— Yevgeny Zamyatin

The moon, our own, earthly moon is bitterly lonely, because it is alone in the sky, always alone, and there is no one to turn to, no one to turn to it. All it can do is ache across the weightless airy ice, across thousands of versus, toward those who are equally lonely on earth, and listen to the endless howling of dogs. (“A Story About The Most Important Thing”)

— Yevgeny Zamyatin

The most agonizing thing is to drop doubt into a man about his being a reality, three-dimensional - and not some other kind of reality.

— Yevgeny Zamyatin

The most effective way of destroying art is the canonization of one given form. And one philosophy.

— Yevgeny Zamyatin

The nights were long, like the braids of a pretty girl, and the days were short, like a girl's sense. ("The North")

— Yevgeny Zamyatin

The only means of ridding man of crime is ridding him of freedom.

— Yevgeny Zamyatin

The only reason I'm writing this down is to show how human reason, even very sharp and exact human reason, can get crazily confused and thrown off the track.

— Yevgeny Zamyatin

The sun's champagne streamed from one body into another. And there was a couple on the green silk of the grass, covered by a raspberry umbrella. Only their feet and a little bit of lace could be seen. In the magnificent universe beneath the raspberry umbrella, with closed eyes, they drank in the sparkling madness.' Extra! Extra! Zeppelins over the North Sea at 3 o'clock.' But under the umbrella, in the raspberry universe, they were immortal. What did it matter that in another far-away universe people would be killing each other?

— Yevgeny Zamyatin