Nikolai Gogol

“ They are, without doubt, alluring, but to the upright all dust and vanity !
CHARITY COMMISSIONER (aside) . Ah, the villain, how he can spout ! It's a gift of Heaven !
KHLESTAKOV. Quite true. I don't mind saying I also like to declaim now and then ; sometimes it's in prose, and sometimes I throw off verses.
BOBCHINSKI (to DOBCHINSKI) . How well, how very well that was put, Pyotr Ivanovich ! Such an observation . . . shows he's studied the liberal arts !
KHLESTAKOV. By the way, could you tell me if you have any amusements here, any places where you could get a game of cards, for instance ? ”

“ ANNA. There now, we've been waiting a whole hour, and it's all through your stupid vanity ; you were quite ready dressed, but no ! you must still be dawdling ! . . . Oh, dear ! not a sound to be heard of her. [1] . . . How vexatious it is ! ... There's not a soul to be seen, of course ; it's just as if the whole place were dead.
MARYA. There, mamma, really we shall know all about it in a minute or two. Avdotya must come back soon. (Looks out of the window and screams.) Oh, mamenka, mamma dear ! some one is coming—away there at the end of the street ! ”

“ ANNA. Oh, I like that ! As if my eyes weren't dark ! They're as dark as they can be ! What rubbish you talk ! How can they help being dark, when I always draw the queen of clubs, if I tell my fortune by the cards ? ”

“ One ought to be able to recognise such people by their distinguished appearance ; but this miserable stripling—how is one to know who he is? A military man reveals himself at once. When he puts on civilian dress he looks like a fly with its wings clipped. ... But then he obstinately remained at the inn, and just now gave vent to such allegories and ambiguities, that it would take you an age to make head or tail of 'em. However, he has surrendered at last. Yes, and said a good deal more than he'd need to. It's pretty plain he's quite young !
Scene X (Enter OSIP. All rush to him, beckoning.) ”

“ This is a serious business a matter of life and death. . . . (To OSIP.) Yes, I'm very pleased with you, my man ; an extra cup of tea on a journey is always acceptable ; it's a trifle cold now, so there's a couple of silver roubles for tea.
OSIP (takes the money) . Oh, thank you kindly, sir ! The Lord give you very good health ! It's a great help to a poor man. ”

“ I assure you, ma'am, he got angry, and said that the inn was most uncomfortable, that he wouldn't come to the Governor's house, nor go to gaol for him ; but afterwards, when he found out Anton Antonovich's innocence, and had had a short conversation with him, he changed his opinion directly, and then, thank Heaven, all went well. They have now gone to inspect the hospital. ... I confess, though, that Anton Antonovich quite thought that a secret information would be lodged against him. I myself also was a little alarmed.
ANNA. Why should you be afraid? you're not an official, you know. ”

“ On the table, for instance, is a water-melon that costs seven hundred roubles. The soup comes straight from Paris by steamer in the tureen : there's nothing in the world to be compared with its flavour! I go to a ball every day. We have our whist-club there too : the Foreign Minister, the French Ambassador, the German Ambassador, and myself. We regularly kill ourselves over cards ”

“ They even write " Your Excellency " on their letters to me. . . . On one occasion I took charge of a Department. It was a funny story : the Director went off somewhere—nobody knew where. So, naturally, people began to ask how was his place to be taken ? who was to fill it? Any number of generals coveted the post and tried it, but they soon gave the thing up—too difficult for 'em ! It looked easy enough, but, on closer inspection, it proved a devil of a business ! There was nothing to be done, but come to me. In a twinkling the streets were choke-full of couriers, couriers after couriers. ”