Seventy years of communism had destroyed the work ethic of an entire nation.
Millions of Russians had been sent to the gulags for showing the slightest hint of personal initiative. The Soviets severely penalized independent thinkers, so the natural self-preservation reaction was to do as little as possible and hope that nobody would notice you.
The less people know about how sausages and laws are made, the better they sleep at night.
If I’m killed, you will know who did it. When my enemies read this book, they will know that you know.
The imagination is a horrible thing when it’s preoccupied with exactly how someone might try to kill you.
Russian stories never have happy endings.
In his mind, he hasn’t succeeded until his opponent has failed, and he can’t be happy until his opponent is miserable.