As they say, let the royal wrath pass us by. “Woe from Wit” by Alexander Griboyedov: catch phrases, aphorisms, quotes

"Woe from Wit" by Alexander Griboyedov is the most unique work in terms of the number of catchphrases. Many began to live separately. People who use them in speech often do not realize that they are quoting classic lines of literature.

Winged expressions from the comedy "Woe from Wit" can often be heard in a speech, in what meaning they were uttered by the hero of the text. What has changed over time?

Most Quoted Expressions

"Happy Hours Don't Watch". The phrase is pronounced by Sofya Pavlovna, explaining to the maid how quickly the nights pass next to her beloved. The expression has not changed its interpretation. They characterize the state of people who are passionate about each other. For them, time goes into the background, leaving room only for feelings. Lovers are overwhelmed with delight from communication, meetings and positive emotions. They cannot and do not want to keep track of time.

"Mind and heart are not in harmony". The phrase is spoken by Chatsky. He explains his condition to her. The heart of a lover does not hear the mind. A person is not able to analyze what is happening around, does not notice deceit and deceitful deeds. Blinded by feelings, he does not hear the truth in speech. He leads himself astray, which later becomes a fatal mistake. In modern life, expression finds a place not only in the emotional sphere, which describes feelings of mutual affection. The mind does not help those who are blinded by their luck in business, in gambling.

"The Hero of Not My Novel". Sofya Pavlovna used the phrase to explain that one of the contenders for her hand could not be her lover. Today, the expression allows you to remove from the gentlemen those who cannot become a groom according to the individual choice and preferences of either sex.

“I would be glad to serve, it’s sickening to serve”. In Chatsky's speech, the word serve has a direct meaning. In the modern world, the expression is used much more widely. To serve becomes synonymous with work. Many people want to find a profession in which they do not have to follow the instructions of the upper levels of power in order to move up the career ladder. Most want to be appreciated for their knowledge, skills and experience.

"Day after day, today, like yesterday". This is how Alexei Molchalin describes his life. This is how contemporaries characterize life, if interesting events leave it, there remains one routine that repeats every day. The state of hopelessness is heard behind the words, melancholy and despondency. I want to get out of this state as soon as possible.

“Bypass us more than all sorrows. And the lord's anger, and the lord's love ". The phrase is put into the mouth of the maid Liza. The girl understands the danger of both love and disfavor. I want to avoid excessive care, anger and hostility. Any feeling on the part of those in power, superiors and leaders often ends negatively for the employee. That is why I want bright manifestations on their part to be bypassed.

"To whom it is appointed, sir, do not escape fate". Wise words are spoken by Lisa. Faith in predestination and fate did not disappear among contemporaries either. An event that occurs in life, often negative, impossible to explain, is reduced to the manifestation of forces from above. Fate is responsible for everything.

"Who is poor is not a couple for you". Sophia's father's speech clearly demarcated her daughter's ability to choose her future husband. It would seem that the century of division into rich and poor has passed. But in fact, the status position not only remained, but is considered one of the main causes of divorces and failed marriages. The expression lives on, expanding its meaning. Any social position that separates lovers can be explained by a catch phrase.

"Who are the judges?". Chatsky's words are heard to this day. The condemnation of people who do not have the right to do so is so common that the expression is considered one of the most popular. The word judge is not used in its direct meaning, it characterizes any person who tries to present his opinion, often erroneous, as a standard.

All character expressions

Chatsky's quotes:

I'm strange, but who's not strange? The one who looks like all the fools.

A little light on my feet! and I am at your feet.

Tell me to go into the fire: I'll go to dinner.

More in number, cheaper price.

Here are our strict connoisseurs and judges!

All the same sense, and the same verses in the albums.

Singer winter summer weather.

On the forehead is written: Theater and Masquerade.

But if so: mind and heart are not in harmony.

And here is the reward for the feats!

The meanest traits of the past life.

I would be glad to serve, it is sickening to serve.

Blessed is he who believes - he is warm in the world!

And Guillaume, the Frenchman, knocked out by the breeze?

The fate of love is to play blind man's blind man.

Sophia's quotes:

And grief awaits around the corner.

Happy hours are not observed.

You can share laughter with everyone.

I don't care what's for him, what's in the water.

Think how capricious happiness is!

Will such a mind make a family happy?

The hero is not my novel.

Quick questions and a curious look…

What is a rumor to me? Who wants to judge.

Went to a room, got into another.

Molchanin quotes:

Oh! evil tongues are worse than a gun.

Mirror outside, mirror inside.

Everyone has their own talent.

There are contradictions, and much is not efficient.

We find patronage where we do not aim.

Day after day, today is like yesterday.

Quotes from Reptilov:

Noise, brother, noise!

About Byron, well, about important mothers.

No place to explain now and lack of time.

He rejected everything: laws! conscience! faith!

And I have an attraction to you, a kind of illness.

Lizanka's quotes:

Sin is not a problem, rumor is not good.

Your conversation went overnight.

And the golden bag, and marks the generals.

And they hear, they don't want to understand.

To whom it is appointed, sir, do not escape fate.

Bypass us more than all sorrows. And the lord's anger, and the lord's love.

These faces suit you.

And who is in love - ready for anything.

She to him, and he to me, And I ... only I crush love to death, And how not to fall in love with the barman Petrusha!

The girls' morning sleep is so thin.

Quotes from Anfisa Khlestova:

Everyone lies calendars.

Tea, drank beyond his years.

There are wonderful adventures in the world! In his summer crazy jumped off!

Not! three hundred! I don’t know other people’s estates!

Quotes by Platon Mikhailovich:

We are scolded. Everywhere, but everywhere they accept.

I'll tell you the truth about you, which is worse than any lie.

The catchphrases and aphorisms from the comedy "Woe from Wit", describing the life of landowners and their servants during the time of serfdom, find their place in the modern world. Moreover, in most cases, the meaning of catchphrases has become wider.

My father's house stands two blocks from the St. Petersburg Tauride Palace. From the age of four, I became “my man” in it and soon learned that the name of the great commander Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov was associated with these chambers. Already in the first grade, I knew a lot about him, even the name of my unloved wife. At the same time, in a film about him, I saw Emperor Paul I ugly yelling at him: “Wow!” The king vilely took revenge on the old commander. Suvorov, having overcome the steep alpine paths and went out into the valley with an army of tired ragamuffins, utterly defeated the completely prosperous army of Napoleonic General Massena.

Europe applauded. People of different nationalities rightly expected the commander's triumphant return to Russia, but the possessed emperor ordered that he be delivered in a peasant sleigh under a sheepskin coat to the Tauride Palace. Should I not know from all sides the palace that is blown through from all sides. Even Suvorov, who was called "superhardened", caught a cold and died on May 6, 1800. Pavel did not calm down, he ordered only army units to be placed in the funeral cortege, not to allow a single guardsman, that is, the soldiers with whom he won legendary victories ...

Quietly lives in the outskirts of Europe, the town of Benzlau. In it, His Serene Highness Prince Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov-Smolensky, who had just expelled Napoleon from Russia, ended his life. From the side it seemed: in a deep slumber, the old man finally found a quiet haven after a great victory. And only the adjutants shifting around him, hearing how he moans in his half-sleep, understood: something else painfully connects the almost departed with this world.

The door quietly opened. The king entered. A chair was quickly brought to him.

Forgive me, Mikhail Illarionovich, - he meekly asked.

I'll forgive you. Russia will not forgive you, - the dying man answered with difficulty, through shortness of breath.

Only these two people knew what they were talking about. Only they could understand how painfully Kutuzov's answer whipped the emperor. Behind him were many years of royal irritation with the popularity of the commander. Whenever fate brought them close, the attitude of Alexander towards the old field marshal was opposed by the whole people. That is, it is the people: all classes.

The young Count Tolstoy, the adjutant on duty, standing behind a screen, wrote down a short dialogue. Neither he nor anyone else could understand what was behind these two seemingly parting phrases. And this is what stood. Kutuzov, after the expulsion of Napoleon from Russia, stood on the fact that neither France nor any other country of the West or East poses a historical danger to Russia. He frankly expressed to the emperor reasonable knowledge of the consequences of the restoration of the royal crown of Prussia and the imperial crown of Austria. Kutuzov clearly saw the speed with which the talented Bismarck was gathering disparate German principalities. And with what pedantic consistency the military strategist Moltke puts a good-natured country on the rails of the First World War.

Alexander I left Kutuzov almost inaudibly. And the old commander once again got hooked on the idea why the winners in Russia are expected not by the mercy of the rulers, but by their alienation and even disgrace, as happened quite recently with his teacher Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov.
- For what? thought the dying Kutuzov. And, wise, he answered himself: - Because the author of "The Science of Victory" resolutely did not perceive the education of the army in the Prussian way: "... gunpowder is not powder, a scythe is not a cleaver, and I am not a German, but a natural hare."

Russian history had a chance to make sure once again that there is a complete mismatch between the rulers and all segments of the population. Fate gave our country another short meeting with an early, at the age of 39, departed genius - Mikhail Dmitrievich Skobelev. Many considered him a student of Suvorov. In his military biography there was even something akin to the Suvorov crossing over the Alps - crossing the Imetli pass, only through the waterless expanses of the Caspian steppes. Tired, exhausted by the heat, Skobelev's troops entered the battle near Sheinov and led to the surrender of the entire Turkish army under the command of Wessel Pasha in the Russian-Turkish war of 1874-1878.

In the most difficult campaigns and battles, Mikhail Dmitrievich turned out to be a legendary winner and was appointed the first military governor of the Fergana region. Then again - battles and passages. As a human being, he was attractive to all segments of the population, starting with the peasants, who called him none other than the White General. There were direct reasons for this: before the battle, he put on a white cuirass, led his soldiers on the attack, and himself entered the thick of the battle on a white horse. The formula was born among the people: "where the White general is, there is victory." But there was also a man who could hardly stand the young commander. The trouble was that Emperor Alexander III himself became this person. The scale of this hostility can be judged from a letter to the tsar by a prominent statesman K. Pobedonostsev, yes, the very one who was remembered only as a "reactionary and obscurantist" under the Soviet regime.

“I dare to repeat again,” he wrote, “that Your Majesty needs to cordially attract Skobelev to himself. The time is such that it requires extreme caution in the receptions. God knows what events we can still witness and when we will wait for calm and confidence. There is no need to deceive yourself; fate has appointed Your Majesty to go through a very stormy time, and the greatest dangers and difficulties are yet to come. Now is a critical time for you personally: now or never - capable of acting in decisive moments. People have been crushed before. The characters have become so worn out, the phrase has taken possession of everything to such an extent that, I assure you with my honor, you look around yourself and do not know whom to stop at. All the more precious now is a person who has shown that he has will and reason and knows how to act.

The king did not heed the letters of one of his most influential advisers.

The opal on Marshal Zhukov was different from all the previous ones. Of course, this kind of moral torture is possible only in a despotically ruled country. Stalin staged a performance to match. Once marshals and generals were gathered at the suggestion of Beria, who suspected Zhukov of betrayal. Stalin was dressed in his traditional civilian jacket. This was considered a bad sign. It was clear that the meeting would not end well. He mysteriously opened the folder in front of him. The victorious heroes once again proved that it is easier to show personal courage at the front than civil courage, and even under the gaze of a despot. They tried to talk about the personal shortcomings of the character of Marshal of Victory, avoiding political overtones as much as possible. A few hours later, the leader said that Zhukov "our man cannot be a traitor, and he must pay serious attention to the shortcomings of his character." Meanwhile, the downfall continued. It is sad and funny that Nikita Khrushchev continued the disgrace, trying to accuse Georgy Konstantinovich of "Bonapartism", and the saying spread among the people: "where a horse with a hoof, there is a cancer with a claw."

Kutuzov's strategic talent allowed him to see further and more. He saw a future world war.

Skobelev talked about the same thing openly, although it fell to his lot to fight victoriously in Central Asia.

Zhukov grappled face to face with the very force that, according to Kutuzov's prediction, "came to kill our children and grandchildren." That's what this dialogue is about: "Forgive me, Mikhail Illarionovich." And the answer: “I’ll forgive you, sir. Russia will not forgive you."

I do not want to dwell on the biggest sin before the defenders of Russia and the Russian nation. Every time I shudder, passing through Sovetskaya Square, the original name of which is Skobelev Square. There, near the building of the Moscow City Council, a magnificent monument was erected at the expense of the common people - an equestrian statue of the "white general". In 1917, it was barbarously split. I cannot believe that not a single heart trembles at the sight of traces of such barbarism ...

And you and I, dear reader, having crossed ourselves, add eternal wisdom: "Bypass us more than all sorrows and master's anger, and master's love."

Alexander KRAVTSOV, academician of Russian literature

Moscow opera theaters are increasingly turning to contemporary repertoire. Previously, the scenes were dominated by Onegins and La Traviata, and the works of the new era were forlornly shown once a decade, if not less often. True, there was the Boris Pokrovsky Chamber Musical in the capital, which was known as the "laboratory of modern opera" and regularly worked with living composers. Now, newfangled opuses are a good tone in the best opera houses. There are such in Stasik and Novaya Opera, even the stronghold of conservatism - the Bolshoi - descends not only to Shostakovich and Britten, who are still registered with us in the modern department, but also to Weinberg and Banevich. The restless "Helikon" does not lag behind colleagues. Not so long ago, he only occasionally diluted the mainstream poster with novelties (as a rule, they did not stay for long), and proven classical masterpieces made the theater box office. Now, however, cooperation with contemporary composers looks like one of the strategic directions of Dmitry Bertman's multi-vector activity.

The librettists (Manotskov and his partner, artist Pavel Kaplevich, the author of the project idea) took Griboedov's immortal comedy Woe from Wit as a basis. The plot, dramaturgy, characters and roles, and the lion's share of the aphoristic text - all from the textbook classics, known to everyone since school. But, in order not to bind themselves with the need to strictly follow Griboedov, the directors came up with a clever move - they combined Chatsky, the “extra man” of Russian literature, with Chaadaev, the “extra man” of Russian reality of the 19th century, supplementing the text of the comedy with excerpts from the latter’s “Philosophical Letters” and modifying last name of the main character. The result was a significant symbiosis, allowing us to talk about Russia and its timeless problems.

The idea, frankly, is not fresh: Griboyedov’s contemporaries “read” Chaadaev in Chatsky, and Pyotr Yakovlevich is still called one of the “prototypes” of the main character of “Woe from Wit” (the author himself did not leave any indications on this).

The no less fashionable Kirill Serebrennikov was called to direct the world premiere. The situation around the Gogol Center headed by him attracted additional attention to the production. For PR - just a gift, especially considering that modern opera, as a rule, scares the public. Serebrennikov remained true to himself, although this production of his does not differ in particular radicalism. The action begins with a crowd of naked men. To the sounds of Griboedov's waltz in E minor, the lads of athletic build change their costumes in order to take up their usual work - kneading clay with their feet or, more precisely, trampling black, scorched earth and carrying huge platforms on their hands, where, in fact, the highest light. The idea of ​​social inequality, segregation, presented more than intelligibly, if not to say - in the forehead, there is little novelty in it, it is read at a time. Everything else worked out on “recognition”: conversations on mobile phones (including the sacramental “Carriage to me, carriage!”), Olympic costumes with the inscription “RUSSIA” on the inhabitants of the Famusov’s house, soulless bureaucracy in business office deuces and a secular ball a la Ryus in kokoshniks (with a hint of the famous Romanov costumed masquerade of 1903).

Signs of the present time are scattered throughout the performance, strung like beads on each stage - they cause the audience to giggle approvingly, where, of course, there are a fair number of admirers of the director's talent at the premiere shows. He speaks in his usual language, the satisfied audience understands this, which is inexpressibly glad. There were also some small obscenities. For matters of the heart, the maid of the Famusovs, Liza, chooses for herself a textured gentleman from the people (the bartender Petrusha), an “atlant” supporting the platform, but before taking him to the social top, she strips him naked and washes off dirt, pouring water from a hose. Lisa, in another picture, is raped by Molchalin - while Famusov makes pathetic speeches, she rhythmically screeches in an ultra-high tessitura. In general, nothing sensational. We regularly see something similar on the stage of the drama theater, and not only at Serebrennikov's. In a word, put it in any way you like, and everything will be fine, all in a suit, straight into the history of the national scene.

The question, what does Chaadaev have to do with it, remains open.

Let us not forget that we are after all an opera, a work for musical theatre, for singers, an orchestra and a choir, and, in addition to a topical theme and fashionable direction, it would be nice if the score were a phenomenon. Somehow this part didn't work at all. Even in comparison with Manotskov's previous opuses (for example, Guidon and Titius the Impeccable), Chaadsky appears to be the least expressive and striking product. The music is monotonous and boring, does not have its own face, does not captivate or shock, leaving the listener absolutely indifferent. Griboedov's exploited waltzes are the only thing that an ear can "catch on to", the rest is a set of commonplaces: postmodernist scraping along the bottom of the barrel, that is, along all conceivable musical styles of the past. And the performance leaves much to be desired. Whether it is the fault of the soloists, conductor, composer or sound engineers (the use of subsound is quite obvious), but the singing is poorly audible, and the words cannot be made out - all hope is for your own memory and the running line. Maestro Felix Korobov courageously collects the score of "Chaadsky" into a single canvas, but he does not quite succeed either - it seems that the monotony of the sound context tires even such an experienced interpreter of modern music.

Photo on the announcement: Dmitry Serebryakov/TASS

From the slogan “Down with ten capitalist ministers!”, which appeared (June 14, 1917) in the Bolshevik newspaper Pravda, and on June 18, under this slogan, a large demonstration against the Provisional Government was led by supporters of V. I. Lenin.

Ironically: about ministers and officials who came to the government from big business, and after completing their careers in government, go to well-paid positions in banks, large companies, to the creation and prosperity of which they had a hand in their time.

From German: Minister fallen wie Butterbrote: gewonlich auf die gute Seite.

Literally: Ministers fall like sandwiches: usually on the good side(i.e. oil down).

The words of a German critic and publicist-democrat Carla Ludwig Berne(1786-1837), leader of the "Young Germany" writers' association, which ideologically prepared the German revolution of 1848.

Apparently, C. L. Berne paraphrased an old Jewish saying: "The sandwich always falls butter side down."

Ironically: about ministers, high-ranking officials dismissed for this or that transgression before the law or morality.

From the tragedy "Don Carlos, Infante of Spain" (1787) Johann Friedrich Schiller(1759-1805). With these words of Domingo, the king's confessor, this play begins. We are talking about the stay of Don Carlos in the pleasure palace of the Spanish king Philip II in Aranjuez near Madrid. in Russia until the beginning of the 20th century. "Aranjuez" was usually pronounced as "Aranjuez". Accordingly, Schiller's phrase was also quoted.

Allegorically: a good, carefree time has passed, it's time for fun and entertainment.

The charm of days gone by

Why did you rise again?

Who awakened the memory

And silent dreams?

These lines became widely known due to the fact that they were set to music by A. Pleshcheev (1832), P. Bulakhov (1846) and Y. Capri (1879) and thus became the words of a popular romance.

Allegorically: about a happy, carefree time of life.

From the comedy "Woe from Wit" (1824) A. S. Griboedova(1795-1829). The words of the maid Liza (action 1, appearance 2):

Ah, away from the masters;

Prepare troubles for themselves at every hour,

Bypass us more than all sorrows

And the lord's anger, and the lord's love.

see by the right of the strong

From the report of the Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Government Georgy Vasilyevich Chicherin(1872-1936) at a meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (1920): "Our slogan is peaceful coexistence with other governments, whatever they may be."

In the form of “peaceful cohabitation”, the expression was used by V. I. Lenin in his “Answer to the questions of the Berlin correspondent of the Amer. information agency "Universal Service" Carl Wiegand (1920).

Usually serves to define a loyal, equal relationship with someone, without friendship, but without enmity (jokingly ironic).

From German: Weltschmerz.

From the unfinished work Selina, or on Immortality (published 1827) by the German satirist Jean Paul(pseudonym I.-P. Richter, 1763-1825), who used this expression, speaking of "the countless torments of people."

As the Russian poet and translator wrote Petr Isaevich Weinberg(1830-1908) in his article “The Poetry of World Sorrow” (1895), world sorrow is “sorrow for the imperfections of the world, for the disorder in it and for the suffering of mankind.”

The expression became especially popular after the publication of the article “From the exhibition of paintings in 1831.” German poet Heinrich Heine, who, speaking of the painting by the artist Delaroche “Oliver Cromwell at the body of Charles I”, wrote: “What great world grief the master expressed in a few lines!”

Jokingly ironic: about someone's gloomy appearance, bad mood, despondency, etc.

The stage name of the protagonist of Imre Kalman's operetta The Circus Princess (1926). Libretto Julius Brammer and Arnold Grunwald.

Jokingly-ironically: about someone unknown or about someone who wishes to remain anonymous.

“And the smoke of the Fatherland is sweet and pleasant for us!” - a selection of quotes, aphorisms and popular expressions from the comedy in verse by Alexander Griboyedov "Woe from Wit".

“Woe from Wit” by Alexander Griboedov is an outstanding work of Russian literature, which literally immediately after its creation was dismantled into quotes. The most apt expressions have become winged and are used as sayings and aphorisms. We use them daily, we hear them from TV screens and do not always remember that the author of these catch phrases is the poet Alexander Griboyedov. We assume that in terms of the number of aphorisms and sayings that “came out” of a literary work, “Woe from Wit” is the absolute champion of not only Russian, but also world literature. And this despite the fact that “Woe from Wit” is a very small work in terms of volume. So, the word to Alexander Griboyedov:

Portrait of Alexander Griboyedov, artist Ivan Kramskoy, 1875, painted from a lithograph

The statements are quoted in the order of their appearance in the text of the comedy Woe from Wit.

"Woe from Wit" Act I

1. “... Bypass us more than all sorrows

And the lord's anger, and the lord's love. (Lisa, phenomenon 2)

2. "Happy hours are not watched." (Sofia, phenomenon 3)

3. “And all the Kuznetsk bridge, and the eternal French,

Destroyers of pockets and hearts!

When the Creator delivers us

From their hats! bonnets! and studs! and pins!

And bookstores and biscuit shops!” (Famusov, phenomenon 4)

4. “No other sample is needed,

When in the eyes of an example of a father. (Famusov, phenomenon 4)

5. “Blessed is he who believes, he is warm in the world!” (Chatsky, phenomenon 6)

6. “Where is it better?” (Sofia) "Where we are not." (Chatsky, phenomenon 6)

7. “You will get tired of living with them, and in whom can you not find spots?

When you wander, you return home,

And the smoke of the Fatherland is sweet and pleasant to us!” (Chatsky, phenomenon 6)

8. “However, he will reach certain degrees,

After all, today they love the dumb.” (Chatsky, phenomenon 6)

"Woe from Wit" Act II- popular expressions, aphorisms, quotes:

9. “I would be glad to serve, it’s sickening to serve.” (Chatsky, phenomenon 2)

10. "Fresh tradition, but hard to believe." (Chatsky, phenomenon 2)

11. “Is this one? take you bread and salt:

Who wants to welcome us, if you please;

The door is open to the invited and the uninvited,

Especially from foreign ones;

Whether an honest person or not

It’s equal for us, dinner is ready for everyone.” (Famusov about Muscovites, phenomenon 6)

12. “Houses are new, but prejudices are old.

Rejoice, they will not exterminate

Neither their years, nor fashion, nor fires. (Chatsky about Moscow, phenomenon 5)

13. “Who are the judges?” (Chatsky, phenomenon 5)

14. “Where, show us, fathers of the fatherland,

Which should we take as samples?

Are not these rich in robbery?

They found protection from court in friends, in kinship,

Magnificent building chambers,

Where they overflow in feasts and extravagance ... ”(Chatsky, phenomenon 5)

15. “Yes, and who in Moscow did not clamp their mouths

Lunches, dinners and dances?” (Chatsky, phenomenon 5)

16. “… evil tongues are worse than a gun!” (Molchalin, phenomenon 11)

"Woe from Wit" Act II I- popular expressions, aphorisms, quotes:

17. “I am strange, but who is not strange?

The one who looks like all fools ... ”(Chatsky, phenomenon 1)

18. “Ranks are given by people,

And people can be deceived.” (Chatsky, phenomenon 3)

19. "Evil, in girls for a century, God will forgive her." (Princess, appearance 8)

20. “Ah, France! There is no better place in the world! -

Two princesses decided, sisters, repeating

A lesson taught to them from childhood.

Where to go from the princesses! -

I odal sent wishes

Humble, but out loud

So that the Lord destroyed this unclean spirit

Empty, slavish, blind imitation…” (Chatsky, phenomenon 22)

"Woe from Wit" Act I V- popular expressions, aphorisms, quotes:

21. Oh! if someone penetrated people:

What's worse about them? soul or tongue? (Chatsky, phenomenon 10)