Fyodor Dostoevsky Quotes
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For what is man without desires, without free will, and without the power of choice but a stop in an organ pipe?
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I am a dreamer. I know so little of real life that I just can’t help re-living such moments as these in my dreams, for such moments are something I have very rarely experienced. I am going to dream about you the whole night, the whole week, the whole year.
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Everywhere I am the object of an unbelievable esteem, the interest in me is, quite simply, tremendous.
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I never have frustrations. The reason is to wit: Of at first I don't succeed, I quit!
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Above all, avoid lies, all lies, especially the lie to yourself. Keep watch on your own lie and examine it every hour, every minute. And avoid contempt, both of others and of yourself: what seems bad to you in yourself is purified by the very fact that you have noticed it in yourself. And avoid fear, though fear is simply the consequence of every lie. Never be frightened at your own faintheartedness in attaining love, and meanwhile do not even be very frightened by your own bad acts.
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One can't understand everything at once, we can't begin with perfection all at once! In order to reach perfection one must begin by being ignorant of a great deal. And if we understand things too quickly, perhaps we shan't understand them thoroughly.
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How good life is when one does something good and just!
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The soul is healed by being with children.
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But men love abstract reasoning and neat systematization so much that they think nothing of distorting the truth, closing their eyes and ears to contrary evidence to preserve their logical constructions.
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But how could you live and have no story to tell?
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I punish myself for my whole life, my whole life I punish.
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But what can a decent man speak of with most pleasure? Answer: Of himself. Well, so I will talk about myself.
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The absurd is only too necessary on earth. The world stands on absurdities.
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Was it all put into words, or did both understand that they had the same thing at heart and in their minds, so that there was no need to speak of it aloud, and better not to speak of it?
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In most cases, people, even the most vicious, are much more naive and simple-minded than we assume them to be. And this is true of ourselves too.
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...it all, maybe, most likely, indeed, might turn out for the best.
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Man is a creative animal, doomed to strive toward a goal, engaged in full-time engineering.
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The secret of man's being is not only to live but to have something to live for.
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We are born dead, and we are becoming more and more contented with our condition. We are acquiring the taste for it.
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If you can put the question, 'Am I or am I not responsible for my acts?' then you are responsible.
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Here my tears are falling, Nastenka. Let them flow, let them flow - they don't hurt anybody. They will dry Nastenka.
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I want peace; yes, I'd sell the whole world for a farthing, straight off, so long as I was left in peace. Is the world to go to pot, or am I to go without my tea? I say that the world may go to pot for me so long as I always get my tea. Did you know that, or not? Well, anyway, I know that I am a blackguard, a scoundrel, an egoist, a sluggard.
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Money is coined liberty.
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Love a man, even in his sin, for that love is a likeness of the divine love, and is the summit of love on earth.