Famous quotes by Mikhail Bulgakov. Quotes from works

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Bulgakov tried to write at the age of 25 and, fortunately, could not stop. We call him the most mystical writer and a person who fiercely fought against Soviet power, albeit in his works. Not accepting the art of socialist realism, five-year plans and camps, he wrote for himself and for his grandchildren, he wrote, as they say, on the table.

His novels have long been sorted into quotes, and today we have collected 25 of the most significant ones about truth, people, love and life.

1. Never ask for anything! Never and nothing, and especially among those who are stronger than you. They will offer and give everything themselves!
2. He who loves must share the fate of the one he loves.
3. Happiness is like health: when it is present, you don’t notice it.
4. The second freshness is nonsense! There is only one freshness - the first, and it is also the last. And if the sturgeon is second freshness, then this means that it is rotten!
5. Those who are not in a hurry succeed everywhere.
6. Only through suffering does truth come... This is true, rest assured! But for knowledge of the truth they do not pay any money or give rations. Sad but true.
7. There are only two forces in the world: dollars and literature.
8. There are no evil people in the world, there are only unhappy people.
9. The writer will always be in opposition to politics as long as politics itself is in opposition to culture.
10. Yes, man is mortal, but that would not be so bad. The bad thing is that he is sometimes suddenly mortal, that's the trick!
11. Manuscripts don't burn.
12. Do you judge by the suit? Never do this. You can make a mistake, and a very big one at that.
13. We speak different languages, as always. But the things we are talking about do not change.
14. Who said that there is no true, eternal love in the world? May the liar's vile tongue be cut out!
15. - Dostoevsky died.
    - I protest, Dostoevsky is immortal!
16. You know, a person without documents is strictly prohibited from existing.
17. The stars will remain when the shadow of our bodies and deeds will not remain on earth.
18. Never commit a crime, no matter who it is directed against. Live to old age with clean hands.
19. Fact is the most stubborn thing in the world.
20. Revolutionary driving: you drive for an hour and stand for two.
21. In Rus' only one thing is possible: Orthodox faith, autocratic power!
22. Understand that the tongue can hide the truth, but the eyes can never!
23. It is enough to chase a person under gunfire, and he turns into a wise wolf; In place of a very weak and, in really difficult cases, unnecessary mind, a wise animal instinct grows.
24. Maybe money gets in the way of being likable. Here, for example, no one has money and everyone is nice.
25. Evil lurks in men who avoid wine, games, the company of lovely women, and table conversation. Such people are either seriously ill or secretly hate those around them.

Posthumous fate of literary heritage Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov(May 15, 1891 - March 10, 1940) was quite successful. The writer's most famous novel, The Master and Margarita, was finally published, and his plays returned to the theater stage. And how many films and TV series have been shot based on the classic works! Today, this is one of the most read Russian authors of the 20th century (and not only in Russia).

We have selected 20 quotes from the classic works:

1. Never ask for anything! Never and nothing, and especially among those who are stronger than you. They will offer and give everything themselves! "Master and Margarita"
2. Yes, man is mortal, but that would not be so bad. The bad thing is that he is sometimes suddenly mortal, that's the trick! "Master and Margarita"
3. He who loves must share the fate of the one he loves. "Master and Margarita"
4. What is this devastation of yours? Old woman with a stick? The witch who broke all the windows and put out all the lamps? Yes, it doesn’t exist at all. What do you mean by this word? This is this: if, instead of operating every evening, I start singing in chorus in my apartment, I will be in ruins. If, entering the restroom, I start, excuse the expression, urinating past the toilet and Zina and Daria Petrovna do the same, devastation will begin in the restroom. Consequently, the devastation is not in the closets, but in the heads. This means that when these baritones shout “beat the destruction!” - I am laughing. I swear to you, I find it funny! This means that each of them must hit themselves in the back of the head! And so, when he hatches all sorts of hallucinations from himself and starts cleaning the barns - his direct business - the devastation will disappear by itself. "Dog's heart"
5. Evil lurks in men who avoid wine, games, the company of lovely women, and table conversation. Such people are either seriously ill or secretly hate those around them. "Master and Margarita"
6. Do you judge by the suit? Never do this. You can make a mistake, and a very big one at that. "Master and Margarita"
7. For twenty whole years a person does something, for example, reads Roman law, and on the twenty-first it suddenly turns out that Roman law has nothing to do with it, that he doesn’t even understand it and doesn’t like it, but in fact he is a subtle gardener and burns with love to the flowers. This happens, one must assume, from the imperfection of our social system, in which people often find themselves in their place only towards the end of their lives. "White Guard"
8. Never. Never pull the lampshade off a lamp! The lampshade is sacred. Never run like a rat into the unknown from danger. Doze by the lampshade, read - let the blizzard howl - wait for them to come to you. "White Guard"
9. There is nothing worse, comrades, than cowardice and lack of self-confidence. "Theatrical Romance"
10. I believe that it is impossible to become an educated person in any educational institution. But in any well-run educational institution, you can become a disciplined person and acquire a skill that will be useful in the future, when a person begins to educate himself outside the walls of the educational institution. "The Life of Monsieur de Molière"
11. Why are you looking at me like that, dear father? There are no patterns on me and flowers don’t grow. "Ivan Vasilievich"
12. There are only two forces in the world: dollars and literature. "Zoyka's apartment"
13. Remember: a person living in Paris should know that the Russian language is only suitable for swearing in unprintable words or, even worse, proclaiming some destructive slogans. Neither one nor the other is accepted in Paris. "Run"
14. All will pass. Suffering, torment, blood, famine and pestilence. The sword will disappear, but the stars will remain, when the shadow of our bodies and deeds will not remain on the earth. There is not a single person who does not know this. So why don't we want to turn our gaze to them? Why? "White Guard"
15. You know, a person without documents is strictly prohibited from existing. "Dog's heart"
16. Manuscripts don't burn. "Master and Margarita"
17. I’m sitting, not bothering anyone, I’m fixing the Primus! "Master and Margarita"
18. The best and strongest won. And these best ones were terrible. "Fatal Eggs"
19. Do you understand how a person who knows that nothing will work out and who must do it can hate? "Run"
20. Why, after all, do I have to come up with an excuse for every action I take? "Morphine"

Michael Bulgakov. Aphorisms and quotes from works

The best aphorisms, quotes, catchphrases and expressions of Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov.

Well, give me a cigarette, your trousers have stripes!

After all, you think about how you can be dead. (Azazello).

Woland: Get out.
Hippopotamus: I haven’t had coffee yet, how can I leave?
(From the novel “The Master and Margarita”)

All power is violence against people.
(From the novel “The Master and Margarita”)

Where will I eat?
(From the work “Heart of a Dog”)

Eyes are a significant thing. Like a barometer. You can see who has a great dryness in their soul, who can poke the toe of a boot into their ribs for no reason, and who is afraid of everyone.

Yes, I give up,” said the cat, “but I give up solely because I can’t play in an atmosphere of bullying from envious people!” (cat Behemoth)
(From the novel “The Master and Margarita”)

Yes, man is mortal, but that would not be so bad. The bad thing is that he is sometimes suddenly mortal, that's the trick! (Woland)
(From the novel “The Master and Margarita”)

Why chase after the footsteps of what is already over. (Woland).
(From the novel “The Master and Margarita”)

There are no gentlemen here. Gentlemen, everyone is in Paris!
(From the work “Heart of a Dog”)

The most interesting thing about this lie is that it is a lie from the first to the last word. (Woland)
(From the novel “The Master and Margarita”)

A brick will never fall on anyone’s head for no reason at all. (Woland)
(From the novel “The Master and Margarita”)

Caress... the only way that is possible in dealing with a living creature. Terror cannot do anything with an animal, no matter what stage of development it is at. This is what I have asserted, am asserting, and will continue to assert. They are in vain to think that terror will help them. No, no, no, it won’t help, no matter what it is: white, red or even brown! Terror completely paralyzes the nervous system.

People are like people. They love money, but this has always been the case... Humanity loves money, no matter what it is made of, whether leather, paper, bronze or gold. Well, frivolous... well, well... ordinary people... in general, they resemble the old ones... the housing issue only spoiled them...
(Woland)
(From the novel “The Master and Margarita”)

Maestro! Shorten the march! (Cat)
(From the novel “The Master and Margarita”)

I don’t play pranks, I don’t hurt anyone, I fix the primus stove. (cat Behemoth)
(From the novel “The Master and Margarita”)

(From the novel “The Master and Margarita”)

No document, no person. (Koroviev)
(From the novel “The Master and Margarita”)

For mercy's sake... would I allow myself to pour vodka for the lady? This is pure alcohol! (cat Behemoth)
(From the novel “The Master and Margarita”)

It is easy and pleasant to speak the truth. (Yeshua Ha-Nozri)
(From the novel “The Master and Margarita”)

It's nice to hear that you treat your cat so politely. For some reason, cats are usually called “you,” although not a single cat has ever drunk brotherhood with anyone. (cat Behemoth)
(From the novel “The Master and Margarita”)

Manuscripts don't burn. (Woland)
(From the novel “The Master and Margarita”)

There is only one freshness - the first, and it is also the last. And if the sturgeon is second freshness, then this means that it is rotten! (Woland)
(From the novel “The Master and Margarita”)

Happiness is like health: when it is present, you don’t notice it

Those who are not in a hurry succeed everywhere.
(From the work “Heart of a Dog”)

What would your good do if evil did not exist? (Woland)
(From the novel "The Master and Margarita")

I will be a silent hallucination. (cat Behemoth)
(From the novel “The Master and Margarita”)

...never ask for anything! Never and nothing, and especially among those who are stronger than you. They will offer and give everything themselves! (Woland)
(From the novel “The Master and Margarita”)

Dad is a forensic investigator...
- This is bad heredity!
(From the work “Heart of a Dog”)

Dear fathers! Sons! Where are you taking me?!

Hippopotamus

• The cat turned out to be not only solvent, but also a disciplined animal.
  
• At the first shout from the conductor, he stopped advancing, got off the step and sat down at the stop, rubbing his mustache with a ten-kopeck piece. But as soon as the conductress pulled the rope and the tram started moving, the cat acted like anyone who is expelled from the tram, but who still needs to go. Having let all three carriages pass by, the cat jumped onto the rear arch of the last one, grabbed some intestine coming out of the wall with its paw, and drove away, thus saving a dime.
• “A cat is not supposed to have pants, sir,” the cat answered with great dignity, “won’t you order me to put on boots too?” Puss in Boots only happens in fairy tales, sir. But have you ever seen anyone at a ball without a tie? I don't intend to find myself in a comical position and risk being pushed into the neck!
• A shaved cat is truly a disgrace, I agree to admit it a thousand times.
• My speeches are not at all dirty, as you deign to express in the presence of a lady, but a string of firmly packaged syllogisms that would be appreciated by such experts as Sextus Empiricus, Martian Capella, and even Aristotle himself. Why chop wood, - picked up the wordsmith
• low-tide cat, - I would like to serve as a conductor on a tram, and there is nothing worse than this job in the world.
• -Queen... my ear will swell... Why spoil the ball with a swollen ear?.. I’m silent, I’m silent... Consider that I’m not a cat, but a fish, just leave the ear.
  “Well, now everything is clear,” Woland said and tapped the manuscript with his long finger.
  “It’s absolutely clear,” the cat confirmed, having forgotten his promise to become a silent hallucination, “now the main line of this opus is clear to me through and through.”
  What are you saying, Azazello? - he turned to the silent Azazello.
• “I’m saying,” he said deafeningly, “that it would be nice to drown you.”
• “Be merciful, Azazello,” the cat answered him, “don’t lead my master to this thought.” Believe me, that every night I would appear to you in the same lunar robe as the poor master, and would nod to you, and beckon you to follow me. How would it feel for you, O Azazello?
  -Know the witch, know! - Aloysia Mogarych grabbed her face with her nails.
  there was confusion.
  - What are you doing? the master shouted painfully, “Margot, don’t disgrace yourself!”
  “I protest, this is not a shame,” the cat yelled.
  Margarita was pulled away by Koroviev.
• It's nice to hear that you treat your cat so politely. For some reason, cats usually say you, although not a single cat has ever drunk brotherhood with anyone.
• “I hereby certify that the bearer of this, Nikolai Ivanovich, spent the night mentioned at Satan’s ball, having been brought there as a means of transportation... put a parenthesis, Gella!” Write “hog” in brackets.
  Signed - Behemoth.
  - What about the number? - Nikolai Ivanovich squeaked.
• “We don’t put numbers, with a number the paper will become invalid,” the cat responded, waved the paper, got a stamp from somewhere, breathed on it according to all the rules, stamped the word “paid” on the paper and handed the paper to Nikolai Ivanovich.
• For mercy, queen, would I allow myself to pour vodka for the lady? This is pure alcohol! -I don’t play pranks, I don’t touch anyone, I fix them
• “I’m a primus,” the cat said, frowning unfriendly, “and I also consider it my duty to warn that the cat is an ancient and inviolable animal.
• Ah, sir, my wife, if only I had her, risked being a widow twenty times! But, fortunately, sir, I am not married, and I will tell you straight - I am happy that I am not married. Ah, sir, is it possible to exchange single freedom for a painful yoke!
• -I don’t understand! They sat peacefully, completely quietly, having a snack...

  

For some reason they usually say “you” to cats, although not a single cat has ever drunk brotherhood with anyone.

• Margot Gods, my gods! What did this woman need?! what this woman needed in her eyes
• which always had some kind of incomprehensible light burning, what did this witch, slightly squinting in one eye, need, who then decorated herself with mimosas in the spring? Don't know. I don't know. Obviously, she was telling the truth, she needed him, the master, in a not at all Gothic mansion, and not a separate garden, and not money. She loved him, she told the truth.
• Invisible and free! Invisible and free!
• “Listen to the soundlessness,” Margarita said to the master, and the sand rustled under her bare feet, “listen and enjoy what you were not given in life - silence.” Look, there ahead is your eternal home, which was given to you as a reward. I can already see the Venetian window and the climbing grapes, it rises to the very roof. This is your home, your forever home. I know that in the evening those whom you love, whom you are interested in and who will not alarm you will come to you. They will play for you, they will sing to you, you will see the light in the room when the candles are burning. You will fall asleep, putting on your greasy and eternal cap, you will fall asleep with a smile on your lips.

Sleep will strengthen you, you will begin to reason wisely. And you won’t be able to drive me away. I will take care of your sleep.

Money and housing issue

• Brilliant!
• A brick will never fall on anyone’s head for no reason at all.
• It is easy and pleasant to speak the truth.
• Congratulations, citizen, having lied!
• Intermission, scoundrels!
• Hamil, as best he could, looking at the professor impudently (about the sparrow)
• Kill the stubborn creature.
• Manuscripts don't burn
• The second freshness is nonsense! There is only one freshness - the first, and it is also the last. And if the sturgeon is second freshness, then this means that it is rotten!
• Never ask for anything. Never ask for anything, and especially from those who are stronger than you. They will offer and give everything themselves!
• Something evil lurks in men who avoid wine, games, the company of lovely women, and table conversation. Such people are either seriously ill or secretly hate those around them. True, exceptions are possible. Among the people who sat down with me at the banquet table, I sometimes came across amazing scoundrels!
• Fact is the most stubborn thing in the world.
• Happiness is like health: when it is present, you don’t notice it.
• There are no evil people in the world, there are only unhappy people
• What would your Good do if Evil did not exist, and what would the Earth look like if shadows disappeared from it...
• Everything will be right, the world is built on this
• Everyone will be rewarded according to their faith

The only thing that is innate to people is self-love. And the goal of every person’s life is happiness! What elements make up happiness? Only of two, gentlemen, only of two: a calm soul and a healthy body. Any good doctor will tell you how to stay healthy. And how to achieve peace of mind, I will tell you: do not commit crimes, my children, you will have neither repentance nor regret, but they only make people unhappy.

• ...the darkness that came from the Mediterranean Sea covered the city hated by the procurator. Hanging mos have disappeared Withyou, connecting the temple with the terrible Antony Tower, the abyss descended from the sky and flooded the winged gods over the hippodrome, Has Moneya palace with loopholes, bazaars, caravanserais, alleys, ponds... Yershalaim, a great city, disappeared, as if it did not exist in the world...
• The only thing he said was that among human vices, he considers cowardice to be one of the most important.
• ... cowardice is undoubtedly one of the most terrible vices... no, philosopher, I object to you: this is the most terrible vice.
• It seemed to Afranius that four eyes were looking at him - a dog's and a wolf's.

Love

• Love jumped out in front of us, like a killer jumps out of the ground in an alley, and struck us both at once!
  That's how lightning strikes, that's how a Finnish knife strikes!
• Follow me, reader! Who told you that there is no true, faithful, eternal love in the world? May the liar's vile tongue be cut out!
  Follow me, my reader, and only me, and I will show you such love!
• He who loves must share the fate of the one he loves.

Master, despair

• You know, I can’t stand noise, fuss, violence and all sorts of things like that. I especially hate human screams, be they a scream of suffering, rage, or some other scream.
• “I no longer have any dreams and I don’t have any inspiration either,” the master answered, “nothing around me interests me except her,” he again put his hand on Margarita’s head, “I’ve been broken, I’m bored, and I want to go to the basement.”

Who is who

• It is unlikely that you would recognize Koroviev-Fagot, the self-proclaimed translator under the mysterious and not needing any translations consultant, the one who was now flying directly next to Woland on the right hand of the master’s girlfriend. In the place of the one who, in tattered circus clothes, left the Sparrow Hills under the name of Koroviev-Fagot, now galloped, quietly ringing the golden chain of the reins, a dark purple knight with the gloomiest and never smiling face. He rested his chin on his chest, he did not look at the moon, he was not interested in the earth beneath him, he was thinking about something of his own, flying next to Woland.
  - Why has he changed so much? - Margarita asked quietly as the wind whistled from Woland.
  “This knight once made a bad joke,” Woland answered, turning his face to Margarita with a quietly burning eye, “his pun, which he made when talking about light and darkness, was not entirely good.” And after that the knight had to joke a little more and longer than he expected.
  But today is the night when scores are settled. The knight paid his account and closed it!
  The night also tore off the fluffy tail from the Behemoth, tore off its fur and scattered its shreds across the swamps. He who was a cat who amused the prince of darkness now turned out to be a thin youth, a demon-page, the best jester that ever existed in the world. Now he too became silent and flew silently, exposing his young face to the light pouring from the moon.
  Azazello flew at the side of everyone, shining with the steel of his armor. The moon also changed his face. The absurd, ugly fang disappeared without a trace, and the squint turned out to be false. Both of Azazello's eyes were the same, empty and black, and his face was white and cold. Now Azazello flew in his true form, like a demon of the waterless desert, a demon-killer.
  Margarita could not see herself, but she clearly saw how the master had changed. His hair was now white in the moonlight and gathered in a braid at the back, and it flew in the wind. When the wind blew the cloak away from the master’s feet, Margarita saw the stars of his spurs on his boots, now extinguishing and then lighting up.

Like a demon youth, the master flew without taking his eyes off the moon, but smiled at her, as if he knew her well and loved him, and muttered something to himself.

• And finally, Woland also flew in his real guise, Margarita could not say what the reins of his horse were made of, and thought that it was possible that these were lunar chains and the horse itself was just a block of darkness, and the mane of this horse was a cloud, and the rider's spurs are the white spots of stars.
• Rest
• “I am in admiration,” Koroviev sang monotonously, “we are in admiration, the queen is in admiration.”
  “The Queen is delighted,” Azazello muttered behind his back.
  “I’m delighted,” the cat cried.
• You can also put some grapes on top.
• - Lies!
  - And the most interesting thing about this lie is that it is a lie from the first to the last word.

Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov - born on May 3, 1891, in the city of Kyiv, Russian Empire. Russian writer, playwright and theater director. Author of novels and stories - “The White Guard”, “Diaboliad”, “Fatal Eggs”, “Heart of a Dog”, “The Master and Margarita”, etc. Died March 10, 1940, Moscow, USSR.

• Manuscripts don't burn.
• Despondency must not be allowed.
• No document, no person.
• Those who are not in a hurry succeed everywhere.
• I'm broken, I'm bored, and I want to go to the basement.
• It's not a shame that I want to live so much, even if I'm blind.
• In Moscow they count only hundreds of thousands and millions.
• I like to sit low - it’s not so dangerous to fall from low.
• People are like people. They love money, but that's always been the case.
• It’s not just the Moscow Art Theater, I’m ready to sell myself to the devil for an apartment.
• What would your good do if evil did not exist?
• Happiness is like health: when it is present, you don’t notice it.
• He who loves must share the fate of the one he loves.
• A brick will never fall on anyone’s head for no reason at all.
• The tenor begins to sing something that immediately makes you painfully want to go to the buffet.
• Not being able to write is tantamount to being buried alive for me.
• Smart people are smart to understand complicated things.
• The consciousness of your complete, blinding powerlessness must be kept to yourself.
• I have a place, however, this is far from the most important thing. You also need to be able to receive money.
  

• The writer will always be in opposition to politics as long as politics itself is in opposition to culture.
• Yes, man is mortal, but that would be half the trouble. The bad thing is that he is sometimes suddenly mortal, that's the trick.
• There is only one freshness - the first, and it is also the last. And if the sturgeon is second freshness, then this means that it is rotten.
• Theater for me is pleasure, peace, entertainment, in a word, anything except a means to acquire a new good neurasthenia.
• No force can silence the crowd until it exhales everything that has accumulated inside it and falls silent itself.
• Now I can hear my thoughts soaring within me, and I believe that I am immeasurably stronger as a writer than anyone I know. But in such conditions as now, I may be lost.
• This is what happens when a researcher, instead of going parallel and groping with nature, forces the question and lifts the veil: here, get Sharikov and eat him with porridge.
• Eyes are a significant thing. Like a barometer. You can see who has a great dryness in their soul, who can poke the toe of a boot into their ribs for no reason, and who is afraid of everyone.
• Something evil lurks in men who avoid wine, games, the company of lovely women, and table conversation. Such people are either seriously ill or secretly hate those around them. True, exceptions are possible.
• I believe that it is impossible to become an educated person in any educational institution. But in any well-run educational institution, you can become a disciplined person and acquire a skill that will be useful in the future, when a person begins to educate himself outside the walls of the educational institution.
• The fight against censorship, whatever it may be and under whatever government it exists, is my duty as a writer, as well as calls for freedom of the press. I am an ardent admirer of this freedom and believe that if any writer were to try to prove that he does not need it, he would be like a fish publicly assuring that it does not need water.
• In the wide field of Russian literature in the USSR, I was the only literary wolf. I was advised to dye the skin. Ridiculous advice. Whether a wolf is dyed or shorn, it still does not look like a poodle. They treated me like a wolf. And for several years they persecuted me according to the rules of a literary cage in a fenced yard. I have no malice, but I am very tired.