31 quotes
Observing Zhivago's Simple Act of Labor
Yevgraf Zhivago
* on seeing Zhivago pulling wood from a fence
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A Moment of Power and Vulnerability
Viktor Komarovsky
* after forcing himself on Lara
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The Commonality of Humanity
Viktor Komarovsky
We're all made of the same clay, you know! Clay! Claaaaay!!
[Reeling drunk]
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Reality of Consent and Manipulation
Viktor Komarovsky
And don't delude yourself this was rape. That would flatter us both.
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Reflection on a Tragic Historical Event
Gromeko
They've shot the Czar, and all his family. Oh, that's a savage deed.
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A Desperate Offer of Assistance
Viktor Komarovsky
Yuri Andreievich, you spent two years with the partisans, fifth division. You have no discharge so you are a deserter. Your family in Paris is involved in a dangerous émigré organisation. Now all these are technicalities. But your style of life; everything you say and think, your published writings are all flagrantly subversive. Your days are numbered unless I help you. Do you want my help?
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The Importance of Timing and Readiness
Yevgraf Zhivago
The Party looked to the conscript peasants. Most of them were in their first good pair of boots. When the boots wore out, they'd be ready to listen. When the time came, I was able to take three battalions with me out of the front lines; the best day's work I ever did.
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The Burden of Loyalty and Betrayal
Pasha Antipov / Strelnikov
* while interrogating Zhivago
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The Nature of Volunteerism and Happiness
Yevgraf Zhivago
Happy men don't volunteer. They wait their turn, and thank god if their age or work delays it.
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Enduring Suffering Amidst War's Devastation
Yevgraf Zhivago
Even Comrade Lenin underestimated both the anguish of that nine hundred mile-long front, and our cursed capacity for suffering.
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The End of Peaceful Demonstrations
Pasha Antipov / Strelnikov
There'll be no more peaceful demonstrations. There were women and children, Lara, and they rode them down. Starving women asking for bread. And up on Tamskaya Avenue the pigs were eating and drinking and dancing.
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Impatience and Progress in Engineering
Engineer
If they were to give me two more excavators, I'd be a year ahead with the plan by now.
Yevraf
You're an impatient generation.
Engineer
Weren't you?
Yevgraf
Yes, we were. Very. Oh, don't be too impatient, Comrade Engineer; we've come very far, very fast.
Engineer
Yes, I know that Comrade General.
Yevgraf
Yes, but do you know what it cost..? There were children in those days who lived off human flesh, did you know that?
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Disruption of Silence in a Restaurant
Viktor Komarovsky
* breaking the uneasy silence in an expensive restaurant caused by the singing of a Bolshevik demonstration on the street outside
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A Call for Anarchy and Rebellion
Amourski
Long Live Anarchy! Lickspittle! Bureaucrat!
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Love and Loss Amidst Despair
Yevgraf Zhivago
She'd come to Moscow to look for her child. I helped her as best I could, but I knew it was hopeless. I think I was a little in love with her. One day she went away and didn't come back. She died or vanished somewhere, in one of the Labour Camps. A nameless number on a list that was afterwards mislaid. That was quite common in those days.
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The Challenge of Literary Appreciation
Yevgraf
This is a new edition of the Lara poems.
Engineer
Yes, I know. We admire your brother very much.
Yevgraf
Yes, everybody seems to.. now.
Engineer
Well, we couldn't admire him when we weren't allowed to read him...
Yevgraf
...No.
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Reflections on the Impact of War
Yevgraf Zhivago
* on World War I
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The Dilemma of Individual vs. Collective Needs
Yevgraf Zhivago
I told myself it was beneath my dignity to arrest a man for pilfering firewood. But nothing ordered by the Party is beneath the dignity of any man. And the Party was right: one man desperate for a bit of fuel is pathetic; five million people desperate for fuel will destroy a city.
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Claiming Belonging in Revolutionary Times
Gromeko
A body, styling itself the Yuriatin Committee of Revolutionary Justice, has expropriated my house. In the name of the people. Very well. I'm one of the people too!
[He picks up a shovel and makes to force his way in.]
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Reflections on World War I by Yevgraf Zhivago
Yevgraf Zhivago
* on World War I
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A Desperate Plea for Protection
Viktor Komarovsky
But don't you see her position? She's served her purpose. These men who came with me today as an escort will come for her and the child tomorrow as a firing squad! Now I know exactly what you think of me, and why. But if you're not coming with me, she's not coming with me. So are you coming with me? Do you accept the protection of this ignoble Caliban on any terms that Caliban cares to make? Or is your delicacy so exorbitant that you would sacrifice a woman and a child to it?
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
A Shift in Admiration and Perspective
Pasha Antipov / Strelnikov
* after telling Zhivago that he used to admire his poetry
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War Perspectives in Class Terms
Yevgraf Zhivago
In bourgeois terms it was a war between the Allies and Germany. In Bolshevik terms it was a war between the Allied and German upper classes - and which of them won was a matter of indifference.
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Innocuous Appearances and Hidden Truths
Pasha Antipov / Strelnikov
You put your knife with a fork and a spoon and it looks quite innocuous. Perhaps you travel with a wife and child for the same reason.
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The Death of Personal Life in Russia
Pasha Antipov / Strelnikov
I shouldn't admire it now. I should find it absurdly personal. Don't you agree? Feelings, insights, affections... it's suddenly trivial now. You don't agree; you're wrong. The personal life is dead in Russia. History has killed it. The private life is dead - for a man with any manhood.
[...]
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The Affection for Poetry in Russia
Yevgraf Zhivago
But if people love poetry, they love poets. And nobody loves poetry like a Russian.
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Declaration of Freedom Amidst Confinement
Amourski
I am a free man, Lickspittle, and there's nothing you can do about it. I am the only free man on this train. The rest of you are cattle!
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Post-Revolution Harmony and Uncertainty
Viktor Komarovsky
No doubt they'll sing in tune after the revolution...
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Brotherhood and Betrayal in Political Loyalty
Yevgraf Zhivago
That was the first time I ever saw my brother. But I knew him. And I knew I would disobey the Party. Perhaps it was the tie of blood between us, but I doubt it; we were only half-tied anyway, and brothers will betray a brother. Indeed, as a policeman I would say get hold of a man's brother and you're half-way home. Nor was it admiration for a better man than me. I did admire him; but I didn't think he was a better man. Besides, I've executed better men than me with a small pistol.
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Organizing Defeat for Revolutionary Victory
Yevgraf Zhivago
They were shouting for victory all over Europe—praying for victory to the same God. My task—the Party's task—was to organize defeat. From defeat would spring the Revolution...and the Revolution would be victory for us
[the warring powers]
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Identity and Misunderstanding in Dialogue
The Girl
I'm not your niece, Comrade General.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.