Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol

Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol (Russian: Никола́й Васи́льевич Го́голь) (March 31, 1809 - March 4, 1852) was a Ukrainian-born Russian writer. Perhaps his best known work is Dead Souls , seen by many as the first "modern" Russian novel.

• "Alexander of Macedon was a hero, it is true. But that's no reason for breaking chairs."
  • The Inspector General

• "Don't fault the mirror if your face is screwed up."
  • -The Inspector General

• "The more destruction there is everywhere, the more it shows the activity of town authorities."
  • The Inspector General

• "I tell everyone very plainly that I take bribes, but what kind of bribes? Why, greyhound puppies. That's a totally different matter."
  • The Inspector General

• "Rus! Rus! I see you, from my lovely enchanted remoteness I see you: a country of dinginess, and bleakness and dispersal; no arogant wonders of nature crowned by the arrogant wonders of art appear within you to delight or terrify the eyes... So what is the incomprehensible secret force driving me towards you? Why do I constantly hear the echo of your mournful song as it is carried from the sea through your entire expanse?... And since you are without end yourself, is it not within you that a boundless thought will be born?"
  • Dead Souls

• "Oh troika, winged troika, tell me who invented you? Surely, nowhere but among a nimble nation could you have been born in a country which has taken itself in earnest and has evenly spread far and wide over half of the globe, so that once you start counting the milestones you may count on till a speckled haze dances before your eyes... Rus, are you not similar in your headlong motion to one of those nimble troikas that none can overtake? The flying road turns into smoke under you, bridges thunder and pass, all fall back and is left behind!... And what does this awesome motion mean? What is the passing strange steeds! Has the whirlwind a home in your manes?... Rus, whither are you speeding to? Answer me. No answer. The middle bell trills out in a dream its liquid soliloquy; the roaring air is torn to pieces and becomes wind; all things on earth fly by and other nations and states gaze askance as they step aside and give her the right of way."
  • Dead Souls

• "What a dreary world we live in, gentlemen."
  • How the Two Ivans Quarrelled