Fyodor Dostoevsky Quotes
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A society should be judged not by how it treats its outstanding citizens but by how it treats its criminals.
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Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on Earth.
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There is no subject so old that something new cannot be said about it.
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Suffering is the sole origin of consciousness.
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I think everyone must love life more than anything else in the world.' 'Love life more than the meaning of it?' 'Yes, certainly. Love it regardless of logic, as you say. Yes, most certainly regardless of logic, for only then will I grasp its meaning. That's what I've been vaguely aware of for a long time. Half your work is done, Ivan: you love life. Now you must try to do the second half and you are saved.
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The pleasure of despair. But then, it is in despair that we find the most acute pleasure, especially when we are aware of the hopelessness of the situation... ...everything is a mess in which it is impossible to tell what's what, but that despite this impossibility and deception it still hurts you, and the less you can understand, the more it hurts.
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The world says: "You have needs - satisfy them. You have as much right as the rich and the mighty. Don't hesitate to satisfy your needs; indeed, expand your needs and demand more." This is the worldly doctrine of today. And they believe that this is freedom. The result for the rich is isolation and suicide, for the poor, envy and murder.
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The best definition of man is: a being that goes on two legs and is ungrateful.
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A true friend of mankind whose heart has but once quivered in compassion over the sufferings of the people, will understand and forgive all the impassable alluvial filth in which they are submerged, and will be able to discover the diamonds in the filth.
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The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is to make sure he never knows he's in prison.
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The man who has a conscience suffers whilst acknowledging his sin. That is his punishment.
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In order to love simply, it is necessary to know how to show love.
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Man grows used to everything, the scoundrel.
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People really do like seeing their best friends humiliated; a large part of the friendship is based on humiliation; and that is an old truth,well known to all intelligent people.
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To live without Hope is to Cease to live.
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The sky was horribly dark, but one could distinctly see tattered clouds, and between them fathomless black patches. Suddenly I noticed in one of these patches a star, and began watching it intently. That was because that star had given me an idea: I decided to kill myself that night.
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I gave up caring about anything, and all the problems disappeared. And it was after that that I found out the truth. I learnt the truth last November - on the third of November, to be precise - and I remember every instant since.
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And it is so simple... The one thing is – love thy neighbor as thyself - that is the one thing. That is all, nothing else is needed. You will instantly find how to live.
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And if there's love, you can do without happiness too. Even with sorrow, life is sweet.
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I am a fool with a heart but no brains, and you are a fool with brains but no heart; and we’re both unhappy, and we both suffer.
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There is only one way to salvation, and that is to make yourself responsible for all men's sins. As soon as you make yourself responsible in all sincerity for everything and for everyone, you will see at once that this is really so, and that you are in fact to blame for everyone and for all things.
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When… in the course of all these thousands of years has man ever acted in accordance with his own interests?
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Nothing in this world is harder than speaking the truth, nothing easier than flattery.
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The cleverest of all, in my opinion, is the man who calls himself a fool at least once a month.