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Mikhail Bulgakov Quotes | Quotes said by Mikhail Bulgakov

  • Mikhail Bulgakov Quote #1

    – But here is a question that is troubling me: if there is no God, then, one may ask, who governs human life and, in general, the whole order of things on earth?
    – Man governs it himself, – Homeless angrily hastened to reply to this admittedly none-too-clear question.
    – Pardon me, – the stranger responded gently, – but in order to govern, one needs, after all, to have a precise plan for a certain, at least somewhat decent, length of time. Allow me to ask you, then, how can man govern, if he is not only deprived of the opportunity of making a plan for at least some ridiculously short period, well, say, a thousand years , but cannot even vouch for his own tomorrow? And in fact, – here the stranger turned to Berlioz, – imagine that you, for instance, start governing, giving orders to others and yourself, generally, so to speak, acquire a taste for it, and suddenly you get ...hem ... hem ... lung cancer ... – here the foreigner smiled sweetly, and if the thought of lung cancer gave him pleasure — yes, cancer — narrowing his eyes like a cat, he repeated the sonorous word —and so your governing is over! You are no longer interested in anyone’s fate but your own. Your family starts lying to you. Feeling that something is wrong, you rush to learned doctors, then to quacks, and sometimes to fortune-tellers as well. Like the first, so the second and third are completely senseless, as you understand. And it all ends tragically: a man who still recently thought he was governing something, suddenly winds up lying motionless in a wooden box, and the people around him, seeing that the man lying there is no longer good for anything, burn him in an oven. And sometimes it’s worse still: the man has just decided to go to Kislovodsk – here the foreigner squinted at Berlioz – a trifling matter, it seems, but even this he cannot accomplish, because suddenly, no one knows why, he slips and falls under a tram-car! Are you going to say it was he who governed himself that way? Would it not be more correct to think that he was governed by someone else entirely?


  • Mikhail Bulgakov Quote #2

    A dog's spirit dies hard.

  • Mikhail Bulgakov Quote #3

    Annushka has already bought the sunflower oil, and has not only bought it, but has already spilled it.

  • Mikhail Bulgakov Quote #4

    Avendo perso uno degli inseguiti, Ivan concentrò la sua attenzione sul gatto, e vide quello strano animale avvicinarsi al predellino del vagone di testa del tram A immobile alla fermata, spingere via con insolenza una donna, afferrare la maniglia e tentare perfino di dare una moneta da dieci copeche alla bigliettaria attraverso un finestrino aperto per l'afa.
    Il comportamento del gatto sbalordì talmente Ivan da lasciarlo immobile davanti alla drogheria sull'angolo; e subito una seconda volta, ma con molta più forza egli fu sbalordito dal comportamento della bigliettaria. Questa, non appena vide il gatto che saliva sul tram, gridò con una rabbia che la scuoteva tutta:
    - È vietato ai gatti! È vietato portare gatti! Passa via! Scendi, se no chiamo la polizia!
    Né la bigliettaria né i passeggeri furono colpiti dalla cosa principale: non dal fatto che un gatto salisse sul tram, questo poteva ancora passare, ma dal fatto che volesse pagare il biglietto!
    Il gatto si dimostrò animale non soltanto solvibile, ma anche disciplinato. Alla prima sgridata della bigliettaria cessò l'attacco, si staccò dal predellino e si sedette alla fermata, soffregandosi i baffi con la monetina. Ma non appena la bigliettaria diede il segnale e il tram si mosse, il gatto si comportò come chiunque sia cacciato da un tram, sul quale deve viaggiare per forza. Dopo essersi lasciato passare davanti tutte e tre le vetture, balzò sulla parte posteriore dell'ultima, si afferrò con la zampa a un tubo che usciva dal veicolo e filò via, economizzando in tal modo il prezzo della corsa.

  • Mikhail Bulgakov Quote #5

    But what can be done, the one who loves must share the fate of the one he lives

  • Mikhail Bulgakov Quote #6

    But what can be done, the one who loves must share the fate of the one he loves.

  • Mikhail Bulgakov Quote #7

    Clever people have been pointing out for a long time that happiness is like good health: when it's there, you don't notice it. But when the years have passed, how you do remember happiness, oh, how you do remember it!

  • Mikhail Bulgakov Quote #8

    Cowardice is the most terrible of vices.

  • Mikhail Bulgakov Quote #9

    Dar cine iubeste e dator sa împartaseasca destinul fiintei iubite.

  • Mikhail Bulgakov Quote #10

    Dialogo tra Levi Matteo e Satana (il mago Woland).

    Se vieni da me, perché non mi hai salutato, ex pubblicano?, replico Woland severo.
    Perché non voglio che tu stia in salute, rispose brusco il nuovo venuto.
    Ma dovrai rassegnarti a questo, replicò Woland e un sorriso increspò la sua bocca, sei appena apparso sul tetto e già hai fatto una sciocchezza e ti dirò quale: è il tuo tono. Hai pronunciato le parole come se non riconoscessi le tenebre e il male. Sii tanto cortese da riflettere su questa domanda: che cosa sarebbe il tuo bene se non ci fosse il male, e come apparirebbe la terra se non ci fossero le ombre? Le ombre nascono dagli oggetti e dalle persone. Ecco l'ombra della mia spada. Ma ci sono le ombre degli alberi e degli esseri viventi. Non vorrai per caso sbucciare tutto il globo terrestre buttando via tutti gli alberi e tutto ciò che è vivo per godere della tua fantasia della nuda luce? Sei uno sciocco.
    (Il maestro e Margherita)

  • Mikhail Bulgakov Quote #11

    Don’t be afraid, Queen, the blood has long run down into the earth. And on the spot where it was spilled, grapevines are growing today.

  • Mikhail Bulgakov Quote #12

    Everyone listened to this amusing narrative with great interest, and the moment that Behemoth concluded it, they all shouted in unison: 'Lies!

  • Mikhail Bulgakov Quote #13

    Everything passes away-suffering,pain, blood, hunger,pestilence. The sword will pass away too, but the stars will remain when the shadows of our presence and our deeds have vanished from the Earth. There is no man who does not know that. Why, then, will we not turn our eyes toward the stars? Why?

  • Mikhail Bulgakov Quote #14

    Everything will turn out right, the world is built on that.

  • Mikhail Bulgakov Quote #15

    Follow me, reader! Who told you that there is no true, faithful, eternal love in this world! May the liar's vile tongue be cut out! Follow me, my reader, and me alone, and I will show you such a love!

  • Mikhail Bulgakov Quote #16

    Happiness is like good health: when you have it, you don’t notice it. But as the years go by, oh, the memories, the memories of happiness past!

  • Mikhail Bulgakov Quote #17

    How sad, ye Gods, how sad the world is at evening, how mysterious the mists over the swamps! You will know it when you have wandered astray in those mists, when you have suffered greatly before dying, when you have walked through the world carrying an unbearable burden. You know it too when you are weary and ready to leave this earth without regret; its mists; its swamps and its rivers; ready to give yourself into the arms of death with a light heart, knowing that death alone can comfort you.

  • Mikhail Bulgakov Quote #18

    I believe you!' the artiste exclaimed finally and extinguishes his gaze. 'I do! These eyes are not lying! How many times have I told you that your basic error consists in underestimating the significance of the human eye. Understand that the tongue can conceal the truth, but the eyes - never! A sudden question is put to you, you don't even flinch, in one second you get hold of yourself and know what you must say to conceal the truth, and you speak quite convincingly, and not a wrinkle on your face moves, but - alas - the truth which the question stirs up from the bottom of your soul leaps momentarily into your eyes, and it's all over! They see it, and you're caught!

  • Mikhail Bulgakov Quote #19

    I must give due praise to the man who first extracted morphine from poppyheads. He was a true benefactor of mankind. The pain stopped seven minutes after the injection. Interesting: the pain passed over me in ceaseless waves, so that I had to gasp for breath, as though a red-hot crowbar were being thrust into my stomach and rotated. Four minutes after the injection I was able to distinguish the wave-like nature of the pain.

  • Mikhail Bulgakov Quote #20

    I suppose that in no educational institution can one become an educated person.

  • Mikhail Bulgakov Quote #21

    I, the unfortunate Doctor Polyakov, who became addicted to morphine in February of this year, warn anyone who may suffer the same fate not to attempt to replace morphine with cocaine. Cocaine is a most foul and insidious poison. Yesterday Anna barely managed to revive me with camphor injections and today I am half dead.

  • Mikhail Bulgakov Quote #22

    If you’ve been exiled, why don’t you send me word of yourself? People do send word. Have you stopped loving me? No, for some reason I don’t believe that. It means you were exiled and died … Release me, then, I beg you, give me freedom to live, finally, to breathe the air! …’ Margarita Nikolaevna answered for him herself: ’You are free … am I holding you?’ Then she objected to him: ’No, what kind of answer is that? No, go from my memory, then I’ll be free …

  • Mikhail Bulgakov Quote #23

    In front of me 327 pages of the manuscript [Master and Margarita] (about 22 chapters). The most important remains - editing, and it's going to be hard. I will have to pay close attention to details. Maybe even re-write some things... 'What's its future?' you ask? I don't know. Possibly, you will store the manuscript in one of the drawers, next to my 'killed' plays, and occasionally it will be in your thoughts. Then again, you don't know the future. My own judgement of the book is already made and I think it truly deserves being hidden away in the darkness of some chest.

    [Bulgakov from Moscow to his wife on June 15 1938]

  • Mikhail Bulgakov Quote #24

    Is that vodka? Margarita asked weakly.
    The cat jumped up in his seat with indignation.
    I beg pardon, my queen, he rasped, Would I ever allow myself to offer vodka to a lady? This is pure alcohol!

  • Mikhail Bulgakov Quote #25

    Man is mortal, and as the professor so rightly said mortality can come so suddenly

  • Mikhail Bulgakov Quote #26

    Margarita was never short of money. She could buy whatever she liked. Her husband had plenty of interesting friends. Margarita never had to cook. Margarita knew nothing of the horrors of living in a shared flat. In short... was she happy? Not for a moment.

  • Mikhail Bulgakov Quote #27

    Most bad, the host concluded. If you ask me, something sinister lurks in men who avoid wine, games, the company of lovely women, and dinnertime conversation. Such people are either gravely ill or secretly detest everyone around them.

  • Mikhail Bulgakov Quote #28

    No one's fate is of any interest to you except your own.

  • Mikhail Bulgakov Quote #29

    Not fooling around, not bothering nobody, just sitting here mending the Primus, said the cat with a hostile frown, and, moreover, I consider it my duty to warn you that the cat is an ancient, inviolable animal.

  • Mikhail Bulgakov Quote #30

    Once more and for the last time, the moon flashed above and broke into pieces, and then everything went black.

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