Author of quotes: Svetlana Alliluyeva

Nowhere will they understand me better than in Russia, where there have been many "Enchanted Wanderers" and "Enchanted Wanderings" along the paths of fate. Life weaves its own pattern, throwing us into all kinds of vicissitudes, and we, floundering, drowning, trying to save ourselves and others, are moving somewhere forward, and maybe back. Memories, like a mirror, reflect what happened. Words or facts cannot be changed. On pain of death - DO NOT!

In the days before the funeral, I stood for long hours at the coffin and looked at the people passing through the Hall of Columns. They behaved differently. Who carried flowers, who looked with curiosity, many cried. I was frightened because my own feelings were contradictory: I felt pain and relief at the same time, scolding myself for being a bad daughter. For some reason I thought that if I had been born in the shack of an obscure Georgian shoemaker, how easy and natural it would have been for me, along with others, to hate that distant tyrant, his party, his deeds and words. Is it not clear where is black and where is white? But I was born his daughter. Beloved in childhood ... A strange thought ...

We have been taught since childhood that we are the masters of our destiny. We live the way we want, the way we think. Yes, nothing goes as planned. For no one: neither for ordinary people, nor for big politicians. And the fates of their family members, in general, are terrible. You don't belong to yourself and there's nothing you can do about it. This must be taken as a cross of some kind. Don't roar especially.