29 quotes
There are people who exist in this world not like entities but like the speckles or spots on something.
Dead Souls (1842)
The more destruction there is everywhere, the more it shows the activity of town authorities.
The Inspector General (1836)
Russia, are you not speeding along like a fiery and matchless troika?
Dead Souls (1842)
What a dreary world we live in, gentlemen.
How the Two Ivans Quarrelled (1835)
Apparently that does sometimes happen. Apparently even men like Chichikov are transformed into poets for a few moments in their lives: though the word "poet" would be an exaggeration here.
Dead Souls (1842)
What are you laughing at? You are laughing at yourselves!
The Inspector General (1836)
It is no use to blame the looking glass if your face is awry.
The Inspector General (1836)
Among a number of intelligent suggestions there was finally this one too, strange as it may seem, that Chichikov might be Napoleon in disguise...
Dead Souls (1842)
And for a long time yet, led by some wondrous power, I am fated to journey hand in hand with my strange heroes and to survey the surging immensity of life, to survey it through the laughter that all can see and through the tears unseen and unknown by anyone.
Dead Souls (1842)
The year 2000: April 43rd.—To-day is a day of splendid triumph. Spain has a king; he has been found, and I am he.
Diary of a Madman (1835)
The sergeant's widow told you a lie when she said I flogged her. I never flogged her. She flogged herself.
The Inspector General (1836)
Of course, Alexander the Great was a hero, but why smash the chairs?
The Inspector General (1836)
In the course of reading he became more and more melancholy and finally became completely gloomy. When the reading was over he uttered in a voice full of sorrow: "Goodness, how sad is our Russia!"
On Alexander Pushkin in Four Letters Concerning Dead Souls (1843)
I know nearly all the pretty actresses, and compose all sorts of vaudevilles. I frequently see literary men; I'm on a very friendly footing with Pushkin.
I shall laugh my bitter laugh.
All the world knows that France sneezes when England takes a pinch of snuff.
Diary of a Madman (1835)
The reason why Proshka wore such large boots can be explained at once: Plyushkin kept only one pair of boots for all of his servants, however numerous they were, and they always stood in the hall.
Dead Souls (1842)
I tell everyone very plainly that I take bribes, but what kind of bribes? Why, greyhound puppies. That's a totally different matter.
The Inspector General (1836)
However, nothing turned out as Tchitchikoff had intended.
Dead Souls (1842)
As it is so strangely ordained in this world, what is amusing will turn into being gloomy, if you stand too long before it, and then God knows what ideas may not stray into the mind... Why is it that even in moments of unthinking, careless gaiety a different and strange mood comes upon one?
Dead Souls (1842)