Ivan Krylov

Ivan Andreyevich Krylov (Russian: Ива́н Андре́евич Крыло́в; 13 February 1769 – 21 November 1844) is Russia's best-known fabulist and probably the most epigrammatic of all Russian authors. Formerly a dramatist and journalist, he only discovered his true genre at the age of 40. While many of his earlier fables were loosely based on Aesop's and La Fontaine's, later fables were original work, often with a satirical bent.

The Fables (1883)

 * We are the Roots of the tree on which you flourish. Go on rejoicing in your beauty! But remember there is this difference between us that with every autumn the old Leaves die, and with every spring new Leaves are born; but if the Roots once perish neither you nor the tree can live at all."
 * An argosy of fables, "The Leaves and the Roots" p. 398


 * There are many busy-bodies in the world, always worrying, always rushing back and forth; every one wonders at them. They seem ready to jump out of their own skins; but in spite of it all, they make no more progress than does the Squirrel in his wheel.
 * An argosy of fables, "The Rain cloud" p. 402


 * It is only when our consciences become tangled that the truth begins to hurt.
 * An argosy of fables, "The Rain cloud", translated by translation by William R. S. Ralston, p. 414