* * * * *
The clown in the circus--that is talent, and the waiter in the frock
coat speaking to him--that is the crowd; the waiter with an ironical
smile on his face.
* * * * *
Auntie from Novozybkov.
* * * * *
He has a rarefaction of the brain and his brains have leaked into his
ears.
* * * * *
"What? Writers? If you like, for a shilling I'll make a writer of
you."
* * * * *
Instead of translator, contractor.
* * * * *
An actress, forty years old, ugly, ate a partridge for dinner, and I
felt sorry for the partridge, for it occurred to me that in its life
it had been more talented, more sensible, and more honest than that
actress.
* * * * *
The doctor said to me: "If," says he, "your constitution holds out,
drink to your heart's content." (Gorbunov.)
* * * * *
Carl Kremertartarlau.
* * * * *
A field with a distant view, one tiny birch tree. The inscription
under the picture: loneliness.
* * * * *
The guests had gone: they had played cards and everything was in
disorder: tobacco smoke, scraps of paper, and chiefly--the dawn and
memories.
* * * * *
Better to perish from fools than to accept praises from them.
* * * * *
Why do trees grow and so luxuriantly, when the owners are dead?
* * * * *
The character keeps a library, but he is always away visiting; there
are no readers.
* * * * *