Mikhail Bulgakov

“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!”

“And now tell me, why is it that you use me words "good people" all the time? Do you call everyone that, or what?- Everyone, - the prisoner replied. - There are no evil people in the world.(- А теперь скажи мне, что это ты все время употребляешь слова добрыелюди"? Ты всех, что ли, так называешь?- Всех, - ответил арестант, - злых людей нет на свете.)”

“What would your good do if evil didn't exist, and what would the earth look like if all the shadows disappeared?”

“פיתחתי צורת התנהגות מיוחדת שתעורר כבוד בסובבים אותי. השתדלתי לדבר באטיות ובצורה שקולה, ובמידת האפשר להימנע מתנועות ספונטניות.”

“בן אדם שלא נסע מימיו בדרכים כפריות נידחות בעגלה רתומה לסוסים, אין טעם לספר לו על כך: ממילא לא יוכל להבין.”

“כן, האדם הוא בן תמותה, אבל זה עוד חצי צרה. מה שגרוע באמת הוא שלפעמים מותו לגמרי לא צפוי.”

“הדבר המעניין ביותר בשקר הזה הוא שהוא שקר מהמילה הראשונה ועד האחרונה.”

“זאת עובדה ועובדות הן הדבר העיקש ביותר בעולם.”

“כתבי יד לא נשרפים!”

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

“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?”

“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.”

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

“Why do smart people exist, if not to figure out convoluted problems?”

“You should never ask anyone for anything. Never- and especially from those who are more powerful than yourself.”

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

“Literature has become my life.”

“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!”

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

“I don't have any special talents, just an ordinary desire to live like a human being.”