Mikhail Bulgakov Quotes

Mikhail Bulgakov's verses feel grand and reflective, drawing readers interested in truth, courage and life.

38 quotes

1. 'Your novel has been read,' Woland began, turning to the master, 'and the only thing said about it was that, unfortunately, it is not finished. So, then, I wanted to show you your hero. For about two thousand years he has been sitting on this platform and sleeping, but when the full moon comes, as you see, he is tormented by insomnia. It torments not only him, but also his faithful guardian, the dog. If it is true that cowardice is the most grievous vice, then the dog at least is not guilty of it. Storms were the only thing the brave dog feared. Well, he who loves must share the lot of the one he loves.'

2. 'Kant ought to be arrested and given three years in Solovki asylum for that 'proof' of his!' Ivan Nikolayich burst out completely unexpectedly. 'Ivan!' whispered Berlioz, embarrassed. But the suggestion to pack Kant off to an asylum not only did not surprise the stranger but actually delighted him. 'Exactly, exactly!' he cried and his green left eye, turned on Berlioz glittered. 'That's exactly the place for him! I said to him myself that morning at breakfast: 'If you'll forgive me, professor, your theory is no good. It may be clever but it's horribly incomprehensible. People will think you're mad.'' Berlioz's eyes bulged. At breakfast...to Kant?

3. 'I do not know these good men,' replied the prisoner.

4. Yeshua and Pontius Pilate

5. 'He's clever,' thought Ivan,' I must admit there are a few bright ones among the intellectuals'

6. 'What is all this? Damn me if I don't have you thrown out of here!' The beast just smiled and said: 'Damn you, I think you said? Very well!'

7. 'What's the use of dying in a ward surrounded by a lot of groaning and croaking incurables? Wouldn't it be much better to throw a party with that twenty-seven thousand and take poison and depart for the other world to the sound of violins, surrounded by lovely drunken girls and happy friends?'

8. 'Is that vodka?' Margarita asked weakly. The cat jumped up from its chair in indignation. 'Excuse me, your majesty,' he squeaked, 'do you think I would give vodka to a lady? That is pure spirit!'

9. 'Unfortunately I cannot show it to you,' replied the master, 'because I burned it in my stove.' 'I'm sorry but I don't believe you,' said Woland. 'You can't have done. Manuscripts don't burn.'

10. 'Don't be afraid, Queen ... don't be afraid, Queen, the blood has long since gone into the earth. And where it was spilled, grapevines are already growing.'

11. '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.'

12. Woland to Margarita

13. '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?'

14. Woland to Master, about Ivan Homeless

15. 'Yes, man is mortal, but that would be only half the trouble. The worst of it is that he's sometimes unexpectedly mortal - there's the trick!'

16. `Second freshness - that's what is nonsense! There is only one freshness - the first - and it is also the last. And if sturgeon is of the second freshness, that means it is simply rotten.'

17. 'Who told you that there is no true, faithful, eternal love in this world! May the liar's vile tongue be cut out!'

18. 'For some reason, cats are usually addressed familiarly, though no cat has ever drunk bruderschaft with anyone.'

19. Cowardice was undoubtedly one of the most terrible vices - thus spoke Yeshua Ha-Nozri. 'No, philosopher, I disagree with you: it is the most terrible vice!'

20. Pontius Pilate

21. 'You're not Dostoevsky,' said the citizeness, who was getting muddled by Koroviev.

22. Difficult folk, these women!

23. The tongue can conceal the truth, but the eyes never! You're asked an unexpected question, you don't even flinch, it takes just a second to get yourself under control, you know just what you have to say to hide the truth, and you speak very convincingly, and nothing in your face twitches to give you away. But the truth, alas, has been disturbed by the question, and it rises up from the depths of your soul to flicker in your eyes and all is lost.

24. This twenty-year-old boy was distinguished from childhood by strange qualities, a dreamer and an eccentric. A girl fell in love with him, and he went and sold her to a brothel...

25. Cowardice is the greatest sin.

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.

27. Remove the document—and you remove the man.

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

29. Once upon a time there was a lady. She had no children, and no happiness either. And at first she cried for a long time, but then she became wicked...

30. Not causing trouble, not touching anything, fixing the primus.

31. The most amazing combinations can result if you shuffle the pack enough.

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

33. Well, as everyone knows, once witchcraft gets started, there's no stopping it.

34. he was coming to understand he could not come to rectify anything in his life, only forget.

35. He who never hurries is always on time.

36. You pronounced your words as if you don’t acknowledge the shadows, or the evil either. Would you be so kind as to give a little thought to the question of what your good would be doing if evil did not exist, and how the earth would look if the shadows were to disappear from it?

37. 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!

38. I challenge you to a duel!” screamed the cat, sailing over their heads on the swinging chandelier.