More Quotes by Nikolai Gogol
The longer and more carefully we look at a funny story, the sadder it becomes.
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.
Nothing could be more pleasant than to live in solitude, enjoy the spectacle of nature, and occasionally read some book.
Let me warn you, if you start chasing after views, you'll be left without bread and without views.
Perfect nonsense goes on in the world. Sometimes there is no plausibility at all
It is no use to blame the looking glass if your face is awry.
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.
A word aptly uttered or written cannot be cut away by an axe.
However stupid a fools words may be, they are sometimes enough to confound an intelligent man.
In the end dreams became his life, and his whole life thereafter took a strange turn: one might say he slept while waking and watched while asleep.