Mikhail Afanasievich Bulgakov quotes
1891 – 1940 · Russia / Soviet Union, 20th century · novelist, playwright, short‑story writer and physician
About Mikhail Afanasievich Bulgakov
Born in Kyiv in 1891 and a qualified doctor (1916), he moved to Moscow in 1921 to pursue journalism, fiction and theatre. His work (The Master and Margarita; Heart of a Dog) faced censorship and suppression; he died in Moscow in 1940.
Works: The Master and Margarita; Heart of a Dog; The White Guard; The Fatal Eggs
Quotes
“Cowardice is the most terrible of vices.”
Source: The Master and Margarita, Yershalaim narrative (1928–1940) · Check the source
Verified attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- The line is from Bulgakov’s novel and occurs in dialogue between Yeshua and Pontius Pilate in the Yershalaim episode.
- What remains uncertain
- While verified as Bulgakov’s, the sentence is fictional dialogue; translations vary and a longer exchange in the text modifies the short aphorism.
Bulgakov frames cowardice as the root that enables lies, betrayal, and political complicity. In the Yershalaim episode of The Master and Margarita the line exposes how fear corrodes conscience and lets injustice persist. The sentence appears in the novel’s dialogue, not as a historical saying.