Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol

“ If any one had happened to have been standing at the window of Pluschkin's mansion—especially on a freezing autumn morning—he would have witnessed the skipping and jumping of the whole of his domestic servants, who made such evolutions as can scarcely be equalled by even the cleverest clown or ballet dancer.
"But, do me the favour, my good Sir, to look at this boy's face!" said Pluschkin to Tchichikoff, whilst pointing to the face of his servant boy, Proschka, "he seems as stupid as a log of wood, but try only to leave anything lying loose, in a minute he is sure to steal it! ”

“ Somehow, a fire took place within his own body; he had been drinking too much, for a blue flame seemed to consume him, he smouldered, and became as black as a coal; but you can have no idea what an ingenious workman he was; and now I shall not be able to drive out at all, for I have no one to shoe my horses."
"All calamities are the decrees of Providence, my dear lady," said Tchichikoff, with a sigh; "the wisdom of God is beyond our understanding. You had better let me have them, my excellent Anastasia Petrovna?" ”

“ Tchichikoff at last said, quite bewildered by such an abundance of words, to which there promised now to be no end, "why do you enumerate all their former professions? all these qualities are of no use to them or others now, because all these people are dead, at this time being."
"Oh, yes, to be sure, they are dead," said Sobakevitch, as if considering and recollecting suddenly, that they were in reality all dead and gone, and then he added, "however, I must observe, what are the people now reckoned as living? yes, what are these people? flies, but not men!" ”

“ Tchichikoff's blood, on the contrary, was like an ever-playing fountain, and it was requisite for him to possess a powerful will and wisdom, to bridle all those passions which would have liked to escape and enjoy unbounded freedom. He began to muse and to reflect on the past and on the future, and the conclusions he arrived at were not at all devoid of sound judgment.
"Why should it be always I? Why should I continually be the victim of a cruel destiny? Who is the man in our empire who lingers over his duties? ”

“ All, the whole nation, from the Emperor himself down to the meanest serf, all have their mind bent upon acquisition. I have ruined nobody; I have not robbed the lonely widow, nor have I made any children orphans. I have derived profit from superfluities, have only taken what every one else in my place would have taken; if I had not profited by the chance offered me, others would have done so. Why should others alone enjoy wealth and comforts, and why I alone be condemned to live and die like a worm? ”

“ As for me, I must acknowledge, I can find nothing attractive in her—she is unbearably conceited."
"She is a perfect statue, my dearest Anna Grigorievna, and there is not the least expression in her face."
"Oh, she is awfully conceited! Oh, how affected! Good gracious, what affectation! I don't know who her instructor was, but I don't recollect having ever seen a young woman so full of affectation as she is!"
"My own heart, Anna Grigorievna! she is nothing but a living statue, and pale as death."
"Pray don't say that, my dearest Sophia Ivanovna; she uses rouge in an unchristian-like manner." ”

“ Tchichikoff shrugged his shoulders, and added: "just so, I am not an amateur."
"You are a precious fool!"
"I can't help that, Heaven has made me so."
"You are a regular humbug! Till now, I was under the impression that you were a reputable man in some respects, but now I plainly perceive that you have not the slightest sense of propriety and good manners. It is impossible to speak to you as one would speak to a friend. You have no candour, no straightforwardness; you are the image of Sobakevitch, you are like him, a regular sneaking fellow!" ”

“ Then, and not till then, it was that he conjectured his coachman Selifan was not sober.
"Stop, stop, you will upset me!" he cried out to him.
"Oh, no, your glory! how could I? how could I upset your honour?" said Selifan. "It is a bad thing to be upset, I know it well myself; how could I therefore upset you, I certainly shall not upset you." Hereupon he began cautiously to turn the britchka round and round again, until he had at last succeeded in turning it all upon one side. Tchichikoff fell out of his carriage and lay there with his hands and feet deeply imbedded in the mud. ”

“ The private carriages were followed by a few empty droschkies, which concluded the procession, and at last the road was free and open again for our hero's britchka, which began to speed on to make up for lost time.
Opening now freely again the leather curtains of his carriages, Tchichikoff heaved a deep sigh, and pronounced, as if from the innermost of his soul:
"There he went, the Imperial Procurator; he has lived and lived until he has come to his death! ”

“ Our hero, however, felt happy and in the best disposition of mind without the old man's watch. For such an unexpected acquisition of stock was in his opinion a most valuable gift, and he had really every difficulty in mastering his joy; but then it was also one of the most advantageous speculations—though certainly of an unheard-of nature—that he had ever made in his life. He got for a mere nothing, not only dead, but even run-away serfs, in all more than two hundred regular census slaves, and to him, whether dead or alive, most valuable beings. ”

“ Harsh and frightful is such old age when looming in the future, for it indemnifies for nothing! The grave is more merciful, upon a tombstone may be written: here lies a man! but you can read nothing upon the cold, unfeeling features of pitiless age.
"Do you perhaps know any one among your friends—" said Pluschkin, whilst folding up his letter, "who might stand in want of a few run-away serfs?"
"Ah, you have even some run-away men?" demanded Tchichikoff eagerly, but composing himself again quickly. ”

“ Nosdrieff was in many respects also a multifarious man, to use a common phrase, we may call him, a man up to anything and everything. At the same instant he would propose to you, to go and drive wherever you like, If even to the end of the world, or in search of Sir John Franklin, then again he would be ready to enter into any speculation with you, exchange with you everything that could possibly be exchanged,—a rifle, a dog, a horse, not that he had any object of gain in it, not at all, it was simply another trait of his restless and foolish character. ”

“ Tchichikoff exclaimed once more.
"Why won't you have them then?"
"Simply because I won't have them, and there is an end."
"What a curious fellow you are; it would seem it is quite impossible to live on friendly terms with you, as is customary among good comrades, you are such an obstinate fellow! It is evident you are a deceitful man!"
"But for what do you take me, surely not for a fool? just reflect for a moment: why should I make the acquisition of such things as are of no earthly use whatever to me?" ”

“ Maniloff addressed himself to his humble steward; "how many of my peasants have died since you sent the last census to government?"
"Your glory wishes to know how many? Since then many have indeed died," replied the steward, whilst putting his hand before his mouth in lieu of a shield, to screen a slight hiccup, which he was unable to repress.
"Yes, I must confess, I thought as much myself," added Maniloff; "just so, a great many have died since." Hereupon he turned towards Tchichikoff, and repeated again; "exactly so, a great many have died." ”

“ The reception-room was already swept, and in good order, the luxurious feather-bed had been removed, a table was placed before the sofa, and covered with a white cloth. After depositing his dressing-case upon the table, Tchichikoff sat down to rest himself a little, because he felt himself as wet from perspiration as if he had been plunged into the river; every article of his dress, beginning from the shirt down to his stockings, was ringing wet.
"Ough! how mercilessly the old tiger cat has treated me to be sure!" ”

“ As he passed along, he cast a hasty glance upon four couples who were delighting, as it seemed, in a mazurka; the gentleman's heels dashed noisily against the floor; a cavalry colonel was dancing with body and soul, and hands and feet, and making such pas as no one perhaps ever executed even in a dream. Tchichikoff glided cleverly through the mazurka and between the high-heels of the dancers, and advanced straight towards the place where the Lord-Lieutenant's lady was sitting with her daughter beside her. ”

“ Selifan, the coachman, observing that one of the little urchins was very expert in throwing somersets, gave him a touch with his whip on passing him, and away went the britchka clattering over the stones.
It is with no little pleasure that a traveller beholds in the distance the painted mile posts, which are the limits of the fatiguing pavement and other annoyances on passing through a town; a little more shaking and jolting about in his carriage and Tchichikoff found himself at last upon a more even and pleasanter road. ”

“ However important the weight of Tchichikoff might have been in that society, and though he was considered a millionaire, and though his face betrayed a high amount of talent, and his countenance even something martial, yet there are trifles for which a lady forgives no one; were he even the Emperor of Russia himself of gallant memory, he might consider himself a lost man. There are instances, when a woman, however weak and feeble in comparison with a man, becomes suddenly not only stronger than a man, but even more powerful than anything on the face of the earth. ”

“ Saying this, Tchichikoff involuntarily looked at Sobakevitch, and though the other remained as cool and indifferent as before, nevertheless it seemed to him as if the following was as it were, written in the expression of his face. "Oh, what a falsehood! for it is not likely that you will have a river and a brook as well, when, perhaps you have not even a piece of land!" ”

“ Tchichikoff never felt so happy and well-disposed as on this occasion, and fancied himself to be really a landed proprietor of the beautiful province of Kherson; he began to speak of a variety of improvements; on the system of English and American improvements in agriculture and machinery; on the happiness and beatitude of two loving hearts, and even began to recite to Sobakevitch the verses of Werther to Charlotte, to which declamation the other could do nothing better than wink with his eyes, because, after the meal he had made of the sturgeon, he felt a great inclination for a doze. ”

“ Some one ought to have come forward and spoken words of exhortation and salvation to those rogues! Words of exhortation pierce every heart. Whatever people may say, I am of opinion that no sinner can resist words of salvation."
"I should say, you could resist them!" thought Tchichikoff to himself, and he added aloud, that he was ready—out of pure esteem for the old man—to pay the expense of the contract of sale out of his own pocket. ”

“ It must be observed that some ladies, I wish it to be understood, that some ladies, only, not all of them, possess a few foibles; if they are conscious that they have any high perfections about their persons, be it a fine forehead, a charming mouth, small hands, they will immediately fancy, that the handsomest part of their person is the first to attract general attention, and that all around on beholding it, will exclaim in one outburst of admiration: "Look here, behold, what a classic Grecian nose she has, or what a marble-like resplendent forehead!" ”

“ It's really a shame. What are you speaking now, pray consider? Who ever will come upon the idea of buying your dead serfs? What benefit could possibly be derived from them?"
"They might perhaps be turned to some account in a household—" replied the old woman, but did not finish her phrase, but looked him into the face as if frightened at the idea herself, and yet anxious to know what he would say in reply.
"Turn the dead to account in a household! Wherever have you heard of that before? Would you perhaps use them as guys in your orchards to frighten the sparrows away?" ”

“ On entering the reception-room and salon, Tchichikoff was obliged to close his eyes for a moment, for the brilliancy of the lamps and lights, and the dresses and toilette of the ladies, were literally bewildering. All was one blaze of light. Black dress-coats were flying about in all directions, separately and in heaps, as flies will do around a sugar-loaf in the middle of a hot day in July, when the grumbling old housekeeper is cutting it into square, sparkling pieces before an open window ”