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Nikolai Gogol

Nikolai Gogol Quotes

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Famous Nikolai Gogol Quotes

“Like all of us sinners, General Betrishchev was endowed with many virtues and many defects. Both the one and the other were scattered through him in a sort of picturesque disorder. Self-sacrifice, magnanimity in decisive moments, courage, intelligence--and with all that, a generous mixture of self-love, ambition, vanity, petty personal ticklishness, and a good many of those things which a man simply cannot do without.”

MenSelfMomentsVirtueSacrificeSelf LoveAmbitionVanityGenerousSinnerDisorderDefectsPettyMixturesSelf SacrificeMagnanimityPicturesqueDecisive Moments
Author:Nikolai Gogol
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“It is well-known that there are many faces in the world over the finishing of which nature did not take much trouble, did not employ any fine tools such as files, gimlets, and so on, but simply hacked them out with round strokes: one chop-a nose appears; another chop-lips appear; eyes are scooped out with a big drill; and she lets it go into the world rough-hewn, saing: "ALIVE!”

WorldWellsBigsEyeFacesKnownAliveTroubleFineToolsRoundsLipsNosesRoughStrokesWell KnownLet It GoFilesFinishingDrillsHackedMany FacesGimlets
Book:Dead Souls: A Novel
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“He who has talent in him must be purer in soul than anyone else. Another will be forgiven much, but to him it will not be forgiven. A man who leaves the house in bright, festive clothes needs only one drop of mud splashed from under a wheel, and people all surround him, point their fingers at him, and talk about his slovenliness, while the same people ignore many spots on other passers-by who are wearing everyday clothes. For on everyday clothes the spots do not show.”

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Author:Nikolai Gogol
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“The current generation now sees everything clearly, it marvels at the errors, it laughs at the folly of its ancestors, not seeing that this chronicle is all overscored by divine fire, that every letter of it cries out, that from everywhere the piercing finger is pointed at it, at this current generation; but the current generation laughs and presumptuously, proudly begins a series of new errors, at which their descendants will also laugh afterwards.”

LaughingFireSeeingGenerationsCryDivineLettersErrorsSeriesFingersCurrentsFollyAncestorDescendantsChroniclesPiercingsCurrent Generation
Book:Dead Souls: A Novel
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“This was not the old Chichikov. This was some wreckage of the old Chichikov. The inner state of his soul might be compared to a demolished building, which has been demolished so that from it a new one could be built; but the new one has not been started yet, because the infinitive plan has not yet come from the architect and the workers are left in perplexity.”

Has BeensSoulStatesMightLeftPlansBuildingBuiltWorkersArchitectPerplexityWreckageInfinitive
Book:Dead Souls: A Novel
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“Ah, steeds, steeds, what steeds! Has the whirlwind a home in your manes? Is there a sensitive ear, alert as a flame, in your every fiber? Hearing the familiar song from above, all in one accord you strain your bronze chests and, hooves barely touching the ground, turn into straight lines cleaving the air, and all inspired by God it rushes on!”

HomeSongTurnsLinesAirEarsHorseInspiredHearingFamiliarFlamesSensitiveChestsTouchingStrainAccordStraight LinesFiberBronzeWhirlwindCleaving
Author:Nikolai Gogol
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“At the end of the table, the secretary was reading the decision in some case, but in such a mournful and monotonous voice, that the condemned man himself would have fallen asleep while listening to it. The judge, no doubt, would have been the first of all to do so, had he not entered into an engrossing conversation while it was going on.”

MenFirstsHas BeensEndsReadingVoiceDecisionCasesDoubtJudgingListeningConversationTablesFallenNo DoubtSecretaryMonotonous
Book:Delphi Complete Works of Nikolai Gogol (Illustrated)
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