Kozma Prutkov

A fictitious pen name/persona jointly invented by Aleksei Konstantinovich Tolstoy and the Zhemchuzhnikov brothers in the 1850s-60s for satirical aphorisms and verse parodying bureaucratic pomposity and received wisdom. Gruzin repeats one of the invented aphorisms attributed to him, "Only in state service does one come to know the truth!", whenever colleagues discuss ranks and salaries too seriously.