“They insist that an author should write in the strictest, purest and noblest language: in short, they expect the Russian language to drop from the clouds, already refined, and that it should come naturally to the lips, so that all they have to do is to open their mouth and stick out their tongue. It goes without saying, of course, that the feminine half of the human species is very wise; but it must be confessed that our respected readers are even wiser.”

— Nikolai Gogol , book Dead Souls

Dead Souls (1842)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Nikolai Gogol 39

Russian writer 1809–1852

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Nikolai Gogol 39

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