Quotes from Heart of a Dog

“Kindness. The only possible method when dealing with a living creature. You'll get nowhere with an animal if you use terror, no matter what its level of development may be. That I have maintained, do maintain and always will maintain. People who think you can use terror are quite wrong. No, no, terror is useless, whatever its colour – white, red or even brown! Terror completely paralyses the nervous system.”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, quote from Heart of a Dog

“Nobody should be whipped. Remember that, once and for all. Neither man nor animal can be influenced by anything but suggestion.”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, quote from Heart of a Dog

“The whole horror of the situation is that he now has a human heart, not a dog's heart. And about the rottenest heart in all creation!”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, quote from Heart of a Dog

“One can find time for everything if one is never in a hurry,’ explained his host didactically.” Chapter 3”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, quote from Heart of a Dog

“Food, Ivan Arnoldovich, is a subtle thing. One must know how to eat, yet just think – most people don’t know how to eat at all. One must not only know what to eat, but when and how.’ (Philip Philipovich waved his fork meaningfully.) ‘And what to say while you’re eating. Yes, my dear sir. If you care about your digestion, my advice is – don’t talk about bolshevism or medicine at table. And, God forbid – never read Soviet newspapers before dinner.’ ‘M’mm . . . But there are no other newspapers.’ ‘In that case don’t read any at all. Do you know I once made thirty tests in my clinic. And what do you think? The patients who never read newspapers felt excellent. Those whom I specially made read Pravda all lost weight.”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, quote from Heart of a Dog

“His swearing is methodical, continuous, and apparently entirely senseless.”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, quote from Heart of a Dog

“Eyes mean a lot. Like a barometer. They tell you everything-they tell you who has a heart of stone, who would poke the toe of his boot in your ribs as soon as look at you-and who’s afraid of you. The cowards – they’re the ones whose ankles I like to snap at. If they’re scared, I go for them. Serve them right..grrr..bow-wow…” Chapter 1”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, quote from Heart of a Dog

“The rule apparently is – once a social revolution takes place there’s
no need to stoke the boiler. But I ask you: why, when this whole business started, should everybody suddenly start clumping up and down the marble staircase in dirty galoshes and felt boots? Why must we now keep our galoshes under lock and key? And put a soldier on guard over them to prevent them from being stolen? Why has the carpet been removed from the front staircase? Did Marx forbid people to keep their staircases carpeted? Did Karl Marx say anywhere
that the front door of No. 2 Kalabukhov House in Prechistenka Street must be boarded up so that people have to go round and come in by the back door? What good does it do anybody? Why can’t the proletarians leave their galoshes downstairs instead of dirtying the staircase?’
‘But the proletarians don’t have any galoshes, Philip Philipovich,’ stammered the doctor.” Chapter 3”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, quote from Heart of a Dog

“People who think you can use terror are quite wrong. No, no, terror is useless, whatever its colour – white, red or even brown! Terror completely paralyses the nervous system.”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, quote from Heart of a Dog

“Why bother to learn to read when you can smell meat a mile away?” Chapter 2”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, quote from Heart of a Dog

“All the words he used in the beginning were gutter words. He heard them and stored them in his brain. Now, as I walk in the street, I look at dogs with secret horror. WHo knows what is hidden in their heads?”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, quote from Heart of a Dog

“О, глаза - значительная вещь! Вроде барометра. Все видно - у кого великая сушь в душе, кто ни за что ни про что может ткнуть носком сапога в ребра, а кто сам всякого боится.”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, quote from Heart of a Dog

“Сообразите, что весь ужас в том, что у него уже не собачье, а именно человеческое сердце.”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, quote from Heart of a Dog

“Le chiedo scusa, professore:non era più un cane, era un uomo. Questo è il punto".
"Perché poteva parlare? Ma questo non vuol dire essere uomini, almeno non ancora...comunque non importa, Pallino è sempre vivo, a nessuno è mai passato per la testa ammazzarlo".”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, quote from Heart of a Dog

“Sì, è possibile trapiantare l'ipofisi di uno Spinoza o di qualche altro povero diavolo e fabbricare da un cane un essere intelligentissimo. Ma perché farlo? Me lo dica lei, per favore: perché fabbricare artificialmente gli Spinoza quando una qualunque donnetta è capace di sfornarne uno quando vuole. Madame Lomonosov ha messo al mondo a Cholmogory quel suo celeberrimo figlio. Dottore, è la stessa umanità che ci pensa e, grazie all'evoluzione, genera ostinatamente, ogni anno, dalla gentaglia più triviale, decine di geni eminenti, abbellendo il globo terrestre.”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, quote from Heart of a Dog

“Chi non ha mai fretta trova il tempo per tutto.”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, quote from Heart of a Dog

“There is absolutely no necessity to learn how to read; meat smells a mile off, anyway.”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, quote from Heart of a Dog

“The nauseating liquid choked the dog’s breathing and his head began to spin, then his legs collapsed and he seemed to be moving sideways. This is it, he thought dreamily as he collapsed on to the sharp slivers of glass. Goodbye, Moscow! I shan’t see Chichkin or the proletarians or Cracow sausages again. I’m going to the heaven for long-suffering dogs. You butchers – why did you have to do this to me? With that he finally collapsed on to his back and passed out.” Chapter 2”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, quote from Heart of a Dog

“Ah, professor, if only you had discovered a way of rejuvenating hair!” Chapter 2”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, quote from Heart of a Dog

“But surely, Philip Philipovich, everybody says that 30-degree vodka is quite good enough.’ ‘Vodka should be at least 40 degrees, not 30 – that’s firstly,’ Philip Philipovich interrupted him didactically, ‘and secondly – God knows what muck they make into vodka nowadays. What do you think they use?’ ‘Anything they like,’ said the other doctor firmly. ‘I quite agree,’ said Philip Philipovich and hurled the contents of his glass down his throat in one gulp. ‘Ah . . . m’m . . . Doctor Bormenthal – please drink that at once and if you ask me what it is, I’m your enemy for life. “From Granada to Seville . . .” Chapter 3”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, quote from Heart of a Dog

“Осъзнайте, че целият ужас е в това, че той има вече не кучешко, а именно човешко сърце. И то най-лошото от всички, които съществуват в природата”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, quote from Heart of a Dog

“Да и что такое воля? Так, дым, мираж, фикция...”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, quote from Heart of a Dog

“- То есть он говорил? - спросил Филипп Филиппович. - Это еще не значит быть человеком!”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, quote from Heart of a Dog

“The dog rose on his hind legs in front of Philip Philipovich and performed obeisance to him.”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, quote from Heart of a Dog

“Ruin, therefore, is not caused by lavatories but it's something that starts in people's heads. So when these clowns start shouting "Stop the ruin!" - I laugh!' 'I swear to you, I find it laughable! Every one of them needs to hit himself on the back of the head and then when he has knocked all the hallucinations out of himself and gets on with sweeping out backyards - which is his real job - all this "ruin" will automatically disappear”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, quote from Heart of a Dog

“– Еда, Иван Арнольдович, штука хитрая. Есть нужно уметь, и представьте, большинство людей вовсе есть не умеет. Нужно не только знать, что съесть, но и когда и как. (Филипп Филиппович многозначительно потряс ложкой.) И что при этом говорить, да-с! Если вы заботитесь о своем пищеварении, вот добрый совет: не говорите за обедом о большевизме и о медицине. И, Боже вас сохрани, не читайте до обеда советских газет!”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, quote from Heart of a Dog

“Nedir ki özgürlük? Bir sis, bir serap, bir kurgu... Bu uğursuz demokratların hezeyanı...”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, quote from Heart of a Dog

“چه چیز وادارت می‌کند خیال کنی که کارگری؟
حتما هستم. چون سرمایه‌دار که نیستم.”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, quote from Heart of a Dog

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