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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?

— Nikolai Gogol Dead Souls (1842)

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More quotes by Nikolai Gogol

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)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Nikolai Gogol (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.