Remove the document—and you remove the man.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that a person's identity and essence are deeply intertwined with their written work or legacy.
Mikhail Bulgakov's quote reflects the idea that a person's existence is often defined by their creations, particularly written documents. If these creations are removed, one might argue that a fundamental part of the person—their thoughts, beliefs, and contributions—has also been erased. It speaks to the significance of art, literature, and personal expression in shaping who we are and how we are remembered.
In practice
In a literary discussion about the importance of an author's work in defining their identity.
But would you kindly ponder this question: What would your good do if evil didn't exist, and what would the earth look like if all the shadows disappeared? After all, shadows are cast by things and people. Here is the shadow of my sword. But shadows also come from trees and living beings. Do you want to strip the earth of all trees and living things just because of your fantasy of enjoying naked light? You're stupid.
just like a murderer jumps of nowhere in an ally, love jumped out in front of us and struck us both at once
The tongue can conceal the truth, but the eyes never! You're asked an unexpected question, you don't even flinch, it takes just a second to get yourself under control, you know just what you have to say to hide the truth, and you speak very convincingly, and nothing in your face twitches to give you away. But the truth, alas, has been disturbed by the question, and it rises up from the depths of your soul to flicker in your eyes and all is lost.
Well, as everyone knows, once witchcraft gets started, there's no stopping it.
Literature has become my life.
The tongue may hide the truth but the eyes—never!
Your numbness is something perhaps you cannot help. It is what the world has done to you. But your coldness. That is what you do to the world.
It is given to no human being to stereotype a set of truths, and walk safely by their guidance with his mind's eye closed.
I think my quarry is illusion. I war against magic. I believe that, though illusion often cheers and comforts, it ultimately and invariably weakens and constricts the spirit.
This symmetrical composition--the same motif at the beginning and at the end--may seem quite "novelistic" to you, and I am willing to agree, but only on condition that you refrain from reading such notions as "fictive," "fabricated," and "untrue to life" into the word "novelistic." Because human lives are composed in precisely such a fashion.
To test a perfect theory with imperfect instruments did not impress the Greek philosophers as a valid way to gain knowledge.
We are much beholden to Machiavel and others, that write what men do, and not what they ought to do.
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