Quotes from The Inspector General

“It is no use to blame the looking glass if your face is awry.”
― Nikolai Gogol, quote from The Inspector General

“What are you laughing at? You are laughing at yourself.”
― Nikolai Gogol, quote from The Inspector General

“GOVERNOR. And then I must call your attention to the history teacher. He has a lot of learning in his head and a store of facts. That's evident. But he lectures with such ardor that he quite forgets himself. Once I listened to him. As long as he was talking about the Assyrians and Babylonians, it was not so bad. But when he reached Alexander of Macedon, I can't describe what came over him. Upon my word, I thought a fire had broken out. He jumped down from the platform, picked up a chair and dashed it to the floor. Alexander of Macedon was a hero, it is true. But that's no reason for breaking chairs. The state must bear the cost.”
― Nikolai Gogol, quote from The Inspector General

“The more debris there is the more it will show the governor's activity.”
― Nikolai Gogol, quote from The Inspector General

“You can always tell a pig by its grunt.”
― Nikolai Gogol, quote from The Inspector General

“Alcalde:
Lo mismo debo hacerle notar con respecto al maestro de historia. Es un sabio (eso es evidente, sabe mucho), pero se expresa con tanta vehemencia, que se olvida de todo. Días pasados lo estuve escuchando. Mientras hablaba de los asirios y los babilonios, todo iba bien, pero cuando llegó a Alejandro el Grande lo que pasó no tiene nombre. ¡Creí que se había incendiado el aula, se lo juro! ¡Bajó corriendo de la tarima y empezó a golpear furiosamente el suelo con la silla! Claro está que Alejandro el Grande es un héroe, pero... ¿a qué romper las sillas? Eso perjudica al fisco.

Luká Lúkich:
¡Sí, es muy vehemente! Ya se lo he hecho notar varias veces... Y me contestó: «¿Qué quiere que haga? ¡Yo daría la vida por la ciencia!»”
― Nikolai Gogol, quote from The Inspector General

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BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.