Quotes from Mikhail Bulgakov

She gave a little jump and hung in the air a little way above the rug, then she slowly began to be drawn downwards and dropped ..

These words, which do not appear in the definitive text, tell us how painfully Bulgakov weighed the question of cowardice and guilt in considering the fate of his hero, and how we should understand the ending of the final

He's already the devil knows where!

Bulgakov's gentle irony is a warning against the mistake, more common in our time than we might think, of equating artistic mastery with a sort of saintliness, or, in Kierkegaard's terms, of confusing the aesthetic with the ethical.

Strange, rapid, disconnected thoughts passed through his mind. 'Dead!' Then: 'They have killed him! . . .' And an absurd notion about immortality, the thought of which aroused a sense of unbearable grief.

and with the words, unsuitable somehow for a serious matter, "Eins, zwei, drei!" he laid out five wads of nice new banknotes for the Chairman.

And who's going to pay the rent—Pushkin?

and it's never the way, that everything should again be as it was." He pressed his cheek against his girl's head, embraced Margarita and began muttering: "Poor thing, poor thing..." "It's never the way, you say?" said Woland. "That's true. But we'll try." And he said: "Azazello!

Who art thou, then?" "Part of that Power which eternally wills evil and eternally works good." Goethe—Faust

Why, when all's said and done, do I have to think up a pretext for my every action? I mean, it really is torment, not a life!

The toads bellowed mournfully, and the twilight was enrobing the professor. Here it was… the night. Moscow… white lamps turning on somewhere outside… Lost and miserable, Pankrat stood fearfully at attention, arms at his sides…

We've been testing you,' said Woland. 'Never ask for anything! Never for anything, and especially from those who are stronger than you. They'll make the offer themselves, and give everything themselves. Sit down, proud woman

Do you know with whom you are presently speaking?' Woland asked the visitor. Whose guest are you? 'I do,' replied the master, 'my neighbour in the madhouse was that boy, Ivan Homeless. He told me about you.' 'Ah, yes, yes,' Woland responded, 'I had the pleasure of meeting that young man at the Patriarch's Ponds. He almost drove me mad myself, proving to me that I don't exist. But you do believe that it is really I?

Well, how are they going to find you missing?' Koroviev soothed him, and some papers and ledgers turned up in his hands. 'By your medical records?' 'Yes . . .' Koroviev flung the medical records into the fireplace. 'No papers, no person,' Koroviev said with satisfaction.

The thought that there is no greater misfortune in the world than the loss of reason? Yes

Soon the room had that desolate look that comes from the chaos of packing up to go away and, worse, from removing the shade from the lamp. Never, never take the shade off a lamp. A lampshade is something sacred. Scuttle away like a rat from danger and into the unknown. Read or doze beside your lampshade; let the storm howl outside and wait until they come for you.

Ä°ki aya??n? bir pabuca sokmayan herkes, her ÅŸey için zaman bulabilir.

Oh, gods, gods, why do you punish me? . . . Yes, no doubt, this is it, this is it again, the invincible, terrible illness . . . hemicrania, when half of the head aches . . . there's no remedy for it, no escape . . . I'll try not to move my head . . .

He's clever, thought Ivan. You have to admit, there are some smart people even among the intelligentsia. No denying that!

And fact is the most stubborn thing in the world.

Where else can such wrecks as you and I find help except from the supernatural?

However, one theory is as good as another.

Miserable, I paced up and down the twilit study. When I came up to the lamp I caught sight of the reflection of my pale face and of the light of the lamp in the window set against the boundless darkness of the fields. 'I'm like Dmitry the Pretender—nothing but a sham,' I thought stupidly and sat down at the table again.

Shvatite, jezik može sakriti istinu, ali o?i nikad!