Honors, of course, are alluring; but as against the happiness
which comes from doing one's duty, they are nothing
but dross and vanity.

ARTEMY [aside]. Oh, the do-nothing, the scoundrel!
How he holds forth! I wish the Lord had blessed me
with such a gift!

KHLESTAKOV. That's so. I admit I sometimes like to
philosophize, too. Sometimes it's prose, and sometimes
it comes out poetry.

BOBCHINSKY [to Dobchinsky]. How true, how true
it all is, Piotr Ivanovich. His remarks are great. It's
evident that he is an educated man.

KHLESTAKOV. Would you tell me, please, if you have
any amusements here, any circles where one could have a
game of cards?

GOVERNOR [aside]. Ahem! I know what you are
aiming at, my boy. [Aloud.] God forbid! Why, no
one here has even heard of such a thing as card-playing
circles. I myself have never touched a card. I don't
know how to play. I can never look at cards with indifference,
and if I happen to see a king of diamonds or
some such thing, I am so disgusted I have to spit out.
Once I made a house of cards for the children, and then
I dreamt of those confounded things the whole night.
Heavens! How can people waste their precious time