Skip to content

Ilf and Petrov Quotes

1897–1937 Russia

Ilya Ilf (Ilya Arnoldovich Feinsilberg, 1897–1937) and Yevgeny Petrov (Yevgeniy Petrovich Katayev, 1902–1942) were two Soviet prose authors of the 1920s and 1930s. They did much of their writing together, and are almost always referred to as "Ilf and Petrov".

Russia
Journalists
Novelists
Short story writers
Travel writers

Random Ilf and Petrov quote

7 quotes

All talented people write differently, all untalented ones write the same way and even in the same handwriting.

Ilya Ilf's notebooks (1925)

Not a single car has ever been run over by a pedestrian, yet for some reason motorists are unhappy.

Ilya Ilf's notebooks (1925)

You need to show him some paper, otherwise he won't believe that you exist.

Ilya Ilf's notebooks (1925)

He got so drunk that he could already perform various minor miracles.

Ilya Ilf's notebooks (1925)

What? Seventy thousand roubles' worth of jewellery hidden in a chair! Heaven knows who may sit on that chair!

The Twelwe Chairs (1927)

In science fiction novels, the main thing was the radio. With it, the happiness of mankind was expected. Now there is a radio, but there is no happiness.

Ilya Ilf's notebooks (1925)

Liar competition. The first prize was given to the person who told the truth.

Ilya Ilf's notebooks (1925)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Ilf and Petrov (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.