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.

“How sad, ye gods, how sad the world is at evening, how mysterious the mists over the swamps. You will know it when you have suffered greatly before dying, when you have walked through the world carrying an unbearable burden. You know it too when you are weary and ready to leave this earth without regret; it's mists, it's swamps and it's rivers; ready to give yourself into the arms of death with a light heart, knowing that death alone can comfort you.”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Book Two in 'Absolution and Eternal Refuge', MG. (Note: Alternate translation of above passage ('Gods, my gods...'))
The Master and Margarita (1967)

“Only if some microorganism doesn't attack these tender hothouse plants and eat away at their roots, only if they don't rot! And that can happen with pineapples! Oh, yes, indeed it can!”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Book Two in 'The End of Apartment No. 50', B/O
The Master and Margarita (1967)

“You're not Dostoevsky,' said the citizeness, who was getting muddled by Koroviev.
'Well, who knows, who knows,' he replied.
'Dostoevsky's dead,' said the citizeness, but somehow not very confidently.
'I protest!”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Behemoth exclaimed hotly. 'Dostoevsky is immortal!'
Book Two in 'The Last Adventures of Koroviev and Behemoth', P/V
The Master and Margarita (1967)

“Second freshness - that's what is nonsense! There is only one freshness - the first - and it is also the last. And if sturgeon is of the second freshness, that means it is simply rotten.”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Book One in 'Hapless Visitors', P/V
The Master and Margarita (1967)

“What is all this? Damn me if I don't have you thrown out of here!' The beast just smiled and said: 'Damn you, I think you said? Very well!”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Book One in 'A Day of Anxiety', MG
The Master and Margarita (1967)

“Unfortunately I cannot show it to you,' replied the master, 'because I burned it in my stove.'
'I'm sorry but I don't believe you,' said Woland. 'You can't have done. Manuscripts don't burn.”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Book Two in 'The Master is Released', MG
The Master and Margarita (1967)

“Never ask for anything! Never for anything, and especially from those who are stronger than you. They'll make the offer themselves, and give everything themselves.”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Book Two in 'The Extraction of the Master', P/V, here Woland addresses Margarita
The Master and Margarita (1967)

“For some reason, cats are usually addressed familiarly, though no cat has ever drunk bruderschaft with anyone.”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Book Two in 'The Extraction of the Master', P/V
The Master and Margarita (1967)

“Cowardice was undoubtedly one of the most terrible vices - thus spoke Yeshua Ha-Nozri. 'No, philosopher, I disagree with you: it is the most terrible vice!”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Book Two in 'The Burial', P/V, here Pontius Pilate responds to Yeshua
The Master and Margarita (1967)

“What's the use of dying in a ward surrounded by a lot of groaning and croaking incurables? Wouldn't it be much better to throw a party with that twenty-seven thousand and take poison and depart for the other world to the sound of violins, surrounded by lovely drunken girls and happy friends?”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Book One in 'Unwelcome Visitors', MG
The Master and Margarita (1967)

“Ryukhin showed himself no mercy-'I don't believe in anything I've ever written!”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

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

“He's clever,' thought Ivan,' I must admit there are some smart people even among the intelligentsia”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Book One in 'The Duel Between the Professor and the Poet', B/O
The Master and Margarita (1967)

“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.”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Book One in 'Nikanor Ivanovich's Dream', B/O
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.

“It was the kind of look one gives someone one has heard of and thought a lot about, and whom one is meeting for the first time.”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Book Two in 'The Burial', B/O
The Master and Margarita (1967)
Context: The procurator studied the new arrival with avid, and slightly fearful eyes. It was the kind of look one gives someone one has heard of and thought a lot about, and whom one is meeting for the first time.

“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.”

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
The Master and Margarita (1967)