Doctor Zhivago Power Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #7

"The bourgeois military power existing in Siberia by its politics of robbery, taxation, violence, executions, and torture should open the eyes of the deluded." (10.6.3)

At a public meeting, Communist politicians and leaders like to talk about how awful the bourgeois capitalist system treats the people of Russia. The ironic thing is that the Communists do all of these same things. No matter who's in power, it seems like people are going to be exploited.

Quote #8

"The people cherished bloodless discussions of the conquests of the revolution, but the Bolshevik Party being servants of foreign capital, its sacred dream, the Constituent Assembly, is dispersed by the crude force of the bayonet, and blood flows in a defenseless stream." (10.7.6)

Of course, everyone would love it if a country could have its revolution with no bloodshed. Unfortunately, this is almost never the way that things go down. Instead, you get a lot of blood and a lot of death, and it's often hard to say whether the new revolutionary government is better than what it replaced.

Quote #9

His three attempts to escape from the partisans ended in capture. They let him off with nothing, but it was playing with fire. He did not repeat them any more. (11.1.3)

Zhivago really doesn't want to work as a doctor with the militia known as the Forest Brotherhood. But every time he tries to escape, he feels like he's playing with his life. One of these days, he might get caught by the wrong guy on the wrong day.