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The White Guard QUOTES

The White Guard QUOTES

1 " Everything passes away - suffering, pain, blood, hunger, pestilence. The sword will pass away too, but the stars will remain when the shadows of our presence and our deeds have vanished from the Earth. There is no man who does not know that. Why, then, will we not turn our eyes toward the stars? Why? "

― Mikhail Bulgakov , The White Guard

2 " Tutto passa. Passano le sofferenze e i dolori, passano il sangue, la fame, la pestilenza. La spada sparirà, le stelle invece resteranno, e ci saranno, le stelle, anche quando dalla terra saranno scomparse le ombre persino dei nostri corpi e delle nostre opere. Non c'è uomo che non lo sappia. Ma perché allora non vogliamo rivolgere lo sguardo alle stelle? Perché? "

― Mikhail Bulgakov , The White Guard

3 " Toate sunt trecătoare. Chinuri, suferințe, vărsări de sânge, molimă, foamete. Totul va pieri, dar stelele de pe cer vor dăinui și atunci când jos, pe pământ, nu va mai rămâne nici măcar umbra noastră sau a înfăptuirilor noastre. Nu se află nimeni pe fața pământului care să n-o știe. Și atunci de ce nu vrem să ne îndreptăm privirea spre stele? De ce? "

― Mikhail Bulgakov , The White Guard

4 " Great and terrible was the year of Our Lord 1918, of the Revolution the second. Its summer abundant with warmth and sun, its winter and snow, highest in its heaven stood two stars: the shepherds' star, eventide Venus; and Mars- quivering, red. But in days of blood and of peace the years fly like an arrow and the thick frost of a hoary white December, season of Christmas trees, Santa Claus, joy and glittering snow, overtook the young Turbins unawares. For the reigning head of the family, their adored mother, was no longer with them. "

― Mikhail Bulgakov , The White Guard

5 " Soon the room had that desolate look that comes from the chaos of packing up to go away and, worse, from removing the shade from the lamp. Never, never take the shade off a lamp. A lampshade is something sacred. Scuttle away like a rat from danger and into the unknown. Read or doze beside your lampshade; let the storm howl outside and wait until they come for you. "

― Mikhail Bulgakov , The White Guard

6 " Oh, soltanto colui che è stato vinto sa che significhi questa parola! Essa assomiglia a una sera in una casa in cui si sia guastata la luce elettrica, assomiglia a una stanza sulle cui tappezzerie si diffonde una muffa verde piena di vita insana. Assomiglia a dei bambini rachitici indemoniati, all'olio marcio, a una bestemmia oscena pronunciata da voci femminili nell'oscurità. Insomma, assomiglia alla morte. "

― Mikhail Bulgakov , The White Guard

7 " Mezzanotte... ascolta... mezzanotte... ascolta. L'ora è scoccata come un monito, e le alabarde di non si sa chi hanno mandato un suono argentino e gradevole. Le sentinelle sono andate attorno e hanno vigilato, poiché l'uomo, pur non sapendolo nemmeno lui, ha creato le torri, gli allarmi e le armi per un unico scopo, quello di salvaguardare la tranquillità e il focolare degli uomini. Per questo egli combatte, e, tutto sommato, non bisogna in nessun caso combattere per qualcos'altro. "

― Mikhail Bulgakov , The White Guard

8 " Pagherà qualcuno per il sangue?
No. Nessuno.
Semplicemente la neve si scioglierà, spunterà la verde erba ucraina, coprirà la terra... germineranno le biade rigogliose... tremolerà l'aria torrida sui campi e del sangue non resterà traccia. Costa poco il sangue sui campi vermigli, e nessuno lo riscatterà.
Nessuno. "

― Mikhail Bulgakov , The White Guard

9 " Elmúlik minden. Szenvedés, kín, ínség és tengerek. A kard eltűnik, de a csillagok megmaradnak, ha testünknek és tetteinknek nyoma sem lesz már a földön. Nincs ember, aki ezt ne tudná. Miért vonakodunk hát felnézni rájuk? Miért? "

― Mikhail Bulgakov , The White Guard

10 " Да-с, смерть не замедлила. Она пошла по осенним, а потом зимним украинским дорогам вместе с сухим веющим снегом. Стала постукивать в перелесках пулеметами. Самое ее не было видно, но явственно видный предшествовал ей некий корявый мужичонков гнев. Он бежал по метели и холоду, в дырявых лаптишках, с сеном в непокрытой свалявшейся голове и выл. В руках он нес великую дубину, без которой не обходится никакое начинание на Руси. "

― Mikhail Bulgakov , The White Guard

11 " The coal-black gloom of the darkest night had descended on the terraces of the most beautiful spot on earth, St Vladimir's Hill, whose brick-paved paths and avenues were hidden beneath a thick layer of virgin snow. "

― Mikhail Bulgakov , The White Guard

12 " The night flowed on. During its second half the whole arc of the sky, the curtain that God had drawn across the world, was covered with stars. "

― Mikhail Bulgakov , The White Guard

13 " The snow would just melt, the green Ukrainian grass would grow again and weave its carpet over the earth . . . The gorgeous sunrises would come again . . . The air would shimmer with heat above the fields and no more traces of blood would remain. Blood is cheap on those red fields and no one would redeem it. "

― Mikhail Bulgakov , The White Guard

14 " Целых лет 20 человек занимается каким-нибудь делом, например, читает римское право, а на 21 — вдруг оказывается, что римское право не при чем, что он даже не понимает его и не любит, а на самом деле он тонкий садовод и горит любовью к цветам. Происходит это, надо полагать, от несовершенства нашего социального строя, при котором люди сплошь и рядом попадают на свое место только к концу жизни. "

― Mikhail Bulgakov , The White Guard

15 " Behind the Blue Division, the frost-bitten horses of Kozyr-Leshko's cavalry regiment crossed the bridge at a wolfish lope followed by a rumbling, bouncing field-kitchen . . . then it all disappeared as if it had never been. All that remained was the stiffening corpse of a Jew on the approach to the bridge, some trampled hay and horse-dung. "

― Mikhail Bulgakov , The White Guard

16 " Give the fathers twenty-five roubles, and they'll say a mass for the devil himself. "

― Mikhail Bulgakov , The White Guard

17 " The right place to live is behind cream-coloured blinds. "

― Mikhail Bulgakov , The White Guard

18 " A man only has to be chased with firearms for him to turn into a cunning wolf: in place of his weak, and in really desperate situations useless intellect, the wisdom of animal instinct will suddenly take over. "

― Mikhail Bulgakov , The White Guard

19 " They worked in a hurry, for as every decent man who has taken part in a revolution knows very well - no matter who is in power - searches take place from 2.30 a.m. to 6.15 a.m. in winter and from midnight to 4 a.m. in summer. "

― Mikhail Bulgakov , The White Guard

20 " The sentries marched back and forth, guarding their tower, for without knowing it, man had made towers, alarm-bells and weapons for one purpose only - to guard the peace of his hearth and home. For this he goes to war, which if the truth be known, is the only cause for which anyone ought to fight. "

― Mikhail Bulgakov , The White Guard