Quotes from book
The Master and Margarita

Name: The Master and Margarita
Author: Mikhail Bulgakov

Mikhail BulgakovOriginal title Мастер и Маргарита (Russian, 1967)

The Master and Margarita is a novel by Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov, written in the Soviet Union between 1928 and 1940 during Stalin's regime. A censored version was published in Moscow magazine in 1966–1967, after the writer's death. The manuscript was not published as a book until 1967, in Paris. A samizdat version circulated that included parts cut out by official censors, and these were incorporated in a 1969 version published in Frankfurt. The novel has since been published in several languages and editions.

“The tongue may hide the truth but the eyes—never!”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Book One in 'Nikanor Ivanovich's Dream', B/O
Variant: The tongue can conceal the truth, but the eyes never!
Source: The Master and Margarita (1967)
Context: The tongue can conceal the truth, but the eyes never! You're asked an unexpected question, you don't even flinch, it takes just a second to get yourself under control, you know just what you have to say to hide the truth, and you speak very convincingly, and nothing in your face twitches to give you away. But the truth, alas, has been disturbed by the question, and it rises up from the depths of your soul to flicker in your eyes and all is lost.

“Cowardice is the most terrible of vices.”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Source: The Master and Margarita

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

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Source: The Master and Margarita

“Well, as everyone knows, once witchcraft gets started, there's no stopping it.”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Book One in the chapter 'Schizophrenia, as Predicted', B/O
The Master and Margarita (1967)

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

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Source: The Master and Margarita

“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!”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Book Two in 'Margarita', P/V, opening lines of Book Two
Variant: Who told you that there is no true, faithful, eternal love in this world! May the liar’s vile tongue be cut out!
Source: The Master and Margarita (1967)

“Once upon a time there was a lady. She had no children, and no happiness either. And at first she cried for a long time, but then she became wicked...”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Book Two in 'Flight', B/O, Margarita talking about herself to a young girl
Source: The Master and Margarita (1967)

“There is no greater misfortune in the world than the loss of reason.”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Source: The Master and Margarita

“The hope that she might regain her happiness made her fearless.”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Book Two in 'By Candlelight'
The Master and Margarita (1967)

“Yes, man is mortal, but that would be only half the trouble. The worst of it is that he's sometimes unexpectedly mortal - there's the trick!”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Да, человек смертен, но это было бы ещё полбеды. Плохо то, что он иногда внезапно смертен, вот в чём фокус!
Book One in 'Never Talk with Strangers', P/V
Source: The Master and Margarita (1967)

“But why don't you take him with you into the light?
He does not deserve the light, he deserves peace”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Source: The Master and Margarita

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

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Source: The Master and Margarita

“Manuscripts don't burn.”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Book Two in 'The Liberation of the Master', B/O
Variant: Manuscripts don't burn.
Source: The Master and Margarita (1967)

“But what can be done, the one who loves must share the fate of the one he loves.”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Source: The Master and Margarita

“This twenty-year-old boy was distinguished from childhood by strange qualities, a dreamer and an eccentric. A girl fell in love with him, and he went and sold her to a brothel…”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Source: The Master and Margarita

“I wouldn’t like to meet you when you’ve got a revolver,” said Margarita with a coquettish look at Azazello. She had a passion for people who did things well.”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Source: The Master and Margarita

“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.”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Source: The Master and Margarita

“If it is true that cowardice is the most grave vice, then the dog, at least, is not guilty of it.”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Book Two in 'Time to Go! Time to Go!', B/O, here Woland is speaking to the Master about Pontius Pilate
Source: The Master and Margarita (1967)
Context: They have read your novel... and they said only one thing, that, unfortunately, it is not finished. So I wanted to show you your hero. He has been sitting here for about two thousand years, sleeping, but, when the moon is full, he is tormented, as you see, by insomnia. And it torments not only him, but his faithful guardian, the dog. If it is true that cowardice is the most grave vice, then the dog, at least, is not guilty of it. The only thing that brave creature ever feared was thunderstorms. But what can be done, the one who loves must share the fate of the one who is loved.

“You are not Dostoevsky,' said the woman…
'You never can tell…' he answered.
'Dostoevsky is dead,' the woman said, a bit uncertainly.
'I protest!' he said with heat, 'Dostoevsky is immortal!”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Source: The Master and Margarita

“The most amazing combinations can result if you shuffle the pack enough.”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Source: The Master and Margarita