But there is nothing enduring in the world, and therefore even joy in the second minute is already not as acute as in the first; in the third minute it becomes still weaker and finally merges unnoticeably with the usual condition of the soul, as a circle on the water, caused by the fall of a pebble, finally merges with the smooth surface.

Nikolai Gogol

Categorized in : Fall Water Circles

The longer and more carefully we look at a funny story, the sadder it becomes.

Nikolai Gogol

sad stories looks

He who has talent in him must be purer in soul than anyone else. Another will be forgiven much, but to him it will not be forgiven. A man who leaves the house in bright, festive clothes needs only one drop of mud splashed from under a wheel, and people all surround him, point their fingers at him, and talk about his slovenliness, while the same people ignore many spots on other passers-by who are wearing everyday clothes. For on everyday clothes the spots do not show.

Nikolai Gogol

clothes men people

Nothing could be more pleasant than to live in solitude, enjoy the spectacle of nature, and occasionally read some book.

Nikolai Gogol

enjoy solitude book

The current generation now sees everything clearly, it marvels at the errors, it laughs at the folly of its ancestors, not seeing that this chronicle is all overscored by divine fire, that every letter of it cries out, that from everywhere the piercing finger is pointed at it, at this current generation; but the current generation laughs and presumptuously, proudly begins a series of new errors, at which their descendants will also laugh afterwards.

Nikolai Gogol

errors fire laughing

You can't imagine how stupid the whole world has grown nowadays.

Nikolai Gogol

imagine stupid world

A word aptly uttered or written cannot be cut away by an axe.

Nikolai Gogol

written cutting

I am who I am and that's who I am

Nikolai Gogol

i-am-who-i-am who-i-am life

There are occasions when a woman, no matter how weak and impotent in character she may be in comparison with a man, will yet suddenly become not only harder than any man, but even harder than anything and everything in the world.

Nikolai Gogol

character men world

Always think of what is useful and not what is beautiful. Beauty will come of its own accord.

Nikolai Gogol

accord beautiful thinking

Keep not money, but keep good people's company.

Nikolai Gogol

good-people company people

However stupid a fools words may be, they are sometimes enough to confound an intelligent man.

Nikolai Gogol

intelligent stupid men

Let me warn you, if you start chasing after views, you'll be left without bread and without views.

Nikolai Gogol

belief views bread

They don’t listen to me, they don’t hear me, they don’t see me.

Nikolai Gogol

listen-to-me

Perfect nonsense goes on in the world. Sometimes there is no plausibility at all

Nikolai Gogol

goes-on perfect world

But youth has a future. The closer he came to graduation, the more his heart beat. He said to himself: “This is still not life, this is only the preparation for life.

Nikolai Gogol

youth preparation heart

It is no use to blame the looking glass if your face is awry.

Nikolai Gogol

glasses literature use

In the end dreams became his life, and his whole life thereafter took a strange turn: one might say he slept while waking and watched while asleep.

Nikolai Gogol

waking dream might

There are people who exist in this world not like entities but like the speckles or spots on something.

Nikolai Gogol

spots people world

A time of famine and poverty will come and the people as a whole as well as every individual in it will suffer.

Nikolai Gogol

poverty suffering people

Whatever you may say, the body depends on the soul.

Nikolai Gogol

body soul literature