Fyodor Dostoyevsky quotes:

Feeling my own humiliation in my heart like the sharp prick of a needle.

In Russia, drunks are our kindest people. Our kindest people are also the most drunk.

Yet there have been and still are mathematicians and philosophers who doubt whether the whole universe, or to speak more widely, the whole of being, was only created in Euclid's geometry. They even dare to dream that two parallel lines, which according to Euclid can never meet on earth, may meet somewhere in infinity."

Thou wouldst not enslave man by a miracle, and didst crave faith given freely, not based on miracle. Thou didst crave for free love and not the base raptures of the slave before the might that has overawed him for ever."

That 'creature,' that 'woman of loose behaviour' is perhaps holier than you are yourselves, you monks who are seeking salvation! She fell perhaps in her youth, ruined by her environment. But she loved much and Christ himself forgave the woman 'who loved much."

Humanity will find in itself the power to live for virtue even without believing in immortality. It will find it in love for freedom, for equality, for fraternity."

I was overpowered by the mere sensation of that dream and it alone survived in my sorely wounded heart.

Faulty intuitions often get us into trouble."

You ache with it all; and the more mysterious it is, the more you ache.

I am told that the proximity of punishment arouses real repentance in the criminal and sometimes awakens a feeling of genuine remorse in the most hardened heart; I am told this is due to fear.

People speak sometimes about the "bestial" cruelty of man, but that is terribly unjust and offensive to beasts, no animal could ever be so cruel as a man, so artfully, so artistically cruel.

But how could you live and have no story to tell?

It was more difficult not tounderstand than to understand.

During these three months I have gone through much; I mean, I have gone through much in myself; and now there are the things I am going to see and go through. There will be much to be written.

Naten s'kisha gjume, me mbyste pendimi, kot thone qe pendimi te lehteson.

Eshte e mire letersia, Varenjka, shume e mire eshte. U binda diten e trete te vizitave. Gje me peshe. Ua forcon zemren njerezve, u meson si te jetojne. C'nuk thuhet ne ato shkrime.

Duhet te qendrojne larg njeri-tjetri si fatkeqet ashtu dhe te varferit, keshtu nuk do te rendoheshin nga njeri-tjetri. Ju shkaktova aq shume fatkeqesi, qe s'i kishit patur kurre me pare ne jeten modeste te vetmitarit. Kjo me brengos, ma derrmon shpirtin.

A fool with a heart and no sense is just as unhappy as a fool with sense and no heart.

For though your mind is active enough, your heart is darkened with corruption, and without a pure heart there can be no full or genuine sensibility.

Lamentations comfort only by lacerating the heart still more.

What does reason know? Reason only knows what it has succeeded in learning

I am an inveterate buffoon, and been from birth up, your reverence, it's as though it were a craze in me. I dare say it's a devil within me. But only a little one. A more serious one would have chosen another lodging.

I really feel obliged to go to this confounded luncheon.

Father monks, why do you fast! Why do you expect reward in heaven for that?...No, saintly monk, you try being virtuous in the world, do good to society, without shutting yourself up in a monastery at other people's expense, and without expecting a reward up aloft for it--you'll find that a bit harder."

I remember being told of a poor wretch I once knew, who had died of hunger. I was almost beside myself with rage! I believe if I could have resuscitated him I would have done so for the sole purpose of murdering him!"

I passed by your lodging just now, and thought: 'I'll go in to him; he is kinder than any of them, and he was there at the time.' Forgive a poor creature who's no use to anyone; i'll go away directly; I'm going...."

And if only fate would have sent him repentance - burning repentance that would have torn his heart and robbed him of sleep, that repentance, the awful agony of which brings visions of hanging and drowning!"

Obedience, fasting, and prayer are laughed at, yet only through them lies the way to real true freedom. I cut off my superfluous and unnecessary desires, I subdue my proud and wanton will and chastise it with obedience, and with God's help I attain freedom of spirit and with it spiritual joy."

Daca, in realitate, omul nu este ticalos - omul in genere, semintia umana - atunci toate celelalte nu sunt decat prejudecati, temeri scornite de mintea noastra, si atunci nu mai este nicio stavila, toate sunt asa cum trebuie sa fie!"

I am told that the proximity of punishment arouses real repentance in the criminal and sometimes awakens a feeling of genuine remorse in the most hardened heart; I am told this is due to fear."

In the newspapers I read a biography about an American. He left his whole huge fortune to factories and for the positive sciences, his skeleton to the students at the academy there, and his skin to make a drum so as to have the American national anthem drummed on it day and night."

One day is enough for a man to know all happiness. My dear ones, why do we quarrel, try to outshine each other and keep grudges against each other? Let's go straight into the garden, walk and play there, love, appreciate each other and glorify life."

I walked along Nevsky Avenue.Actually it was more torture, humiliation, and bilious irritation than a stroll..."

There are crimes that are truly uncomely. With crimes, whatever they may be, the more blood, the more horror there is, the more imposing they are, the more picturesque, so to speak, but there are crimes that are shameful, disgraceful, all horror aside, so to speak, even far too ungracious...

At home, I mainly used to read. I wished to stifle with external sensations all that was ceaselessly boiling up inside me. And among external sensations the only one possible for me was reading. Reading was, of course, a great help. It stirred, delighted, and tormented me.

The execution of the deed is sometimes masterfully done, in the most ingenious fashion, yet the control of the individual actions that comprise it, the origin of those actions, is diffuse and is associated with various morbid sensations. Rather like a dream.

The only gain of civilisation for mankind is the greater capacity for cariety of sensations - and absolutely nothing more.

..such a cross is too much for you. You wanted to regenerate another man in yourself through suffering; I say just remember that other man always, all your life, and wherever you escape to--and that is enough for you.

In any case civilisation has made mankind if not more bloodthirsty, at least more vilely, more loathsomely bloodthirsty.

He saw that the Prisoner had listened carefully all the time, looking gently in his face--But evidently he did not want to reply. The old man longed for Him to say something, however bitter and terrible. But he suddenly approached the old man in silence and softly kissed him on the forehead.

For it will come to pass that even the most corrupt of our rich men will finally be ashamed of his riches before the poor man, and the poor man, seeing his humility, will understand and yield to him in joy, and will respond with kindness to his gracious shame.

Adeseori, un om rabda in tacere ani de-a randul, indura resemnat cele mai crunte pedepse, dar deodata il vezi rabufnind dintr-o nimica toata, pentru te miri ce lucru neinsemnat, incat ramai uluit si te intrebi de mai e in toate mintile; caci ceea ce face el atunci pare de-a dreptul o nebunie.

Whoever does not believe in God will not believe in the people of God. But he who believes in the people of God will also see their holiness, even if he did not believe in it at all before.

Gentlemen, let us suppose that man is not stupid. (Indeed one cannot refuse to suppose that, if only from the one consideration, that, if man is stupid, then who is wise?) But if he is not stupid, he is monstrously ungrateful! Phenomenally ungrateful. In fact, I believe that the best definition of man is the ungrateful biped.

The most monstrous monster is the monster with noble feelings

I walked along Nevsky Avenue.Actually it was more torture, humiliation, and bilious irritation than a stroll...

Well, yes, yes, to be enslaved to you is a pleasure. There is, there is pleasure in the ultimate degree of humiliation and insignificance! I went on ravingDevil knows, maybe there is in the knout, too, when the knout comes down on your back and tears your flesh to pieces...But maybe I want to try other pleasures as well.

I hated them horribly, though perhaps I was worse than any of them. They repaid me in the same way, and did not conceal their aversion for me. But by then I did not desire their affection: on the contrary, I continually longed for their humiliation.

I am glad that at such a moment my young man turned out to be not so reasonable; the time will come for an intelligent man to be reasonable, but if at such an exceptional moment there is no love to be found in a young man's heart, then when will it come?

On an exceptionally hot evening early in July a young man came out of the garret in which he lodged in S. Place and walked slowly, as though in hesitation, towards K. bridge.

Nature doesn't ask your permission; it doesn't care about your wishes, or whether you like its laws or not. You're obliged to accept it as it is, and consequently all its results as well.

There is something spiteful and yet open-hearted about you

And even though we may be involved with the most important affairs, achieve distinction or fall into some great misfortune- all the same, let us never forget how good we all once felt here, all together, united by such good and kind feelings as made us, too,...perhaps better than we actually are.

Anger was buried far too early in a young heart, which perhaps contained much good.

He longed to revenge himself on everyone for his own unseemliness

Beauty will save the world" - The Idiot

And it has always been a mystery, and I've marveled a thousand times at this ability of man (and, it seems, of the Russian man above all) to cherish the highest ideal in his soul alongside the greatest baseness, and all that in perfect sincerity. --The Adolescent (or, The Raw Youth)

I am not a scoundrel, but I'm broadminded.

Lack of originality, everywhere, all over the world, from time immemorial, has always been considered the foremost quality and the recommendation of the active, efficient and practical man.

I must add... my gratitude to you for the attention with which you have listened to me, for, from my numerous observations, our Liberals are never capable of letting anyone else have a conviction of his own without at once meeting their opponent with abuse or even something worse.

What is a Socialist? - That's when all are equal and all have property in common, there are no marriages, and everyone has any religion and laws he likes best. You are not old enough to understand that yet.

And what if there are only spiders there, or something of that sort

Nothing in this world is harder than speaking the truth, nothing easier than flattery.

In wine is truth, and the truth had all come out, "that is, all the uncleanness of his coarse and envious heart"!

It is man's unique privilege, among all other organisms. By pursuing falsehood you will arrive at the truth!

We shall have thousands of Shatovs to deal with

The Russian soul is a dark place.

Oh, I have always been proud, I always wanted all or nothing! You see it was just because I am not one who will accept half a happiness, but always wanted all

The fear of appearances is the first symptom of impotence.

But twice-two-makes-four is for all that a most insupportable thing. Twice-two-makes-four is, in my humble opinion, nothing but a piece of impudence. Twice-two-makes-four is a farcical, dressed-up fellow who stands across your path with arms akimbo and spits at you.

I swear, gentlemen, that to be too conscious is an illness - a real thorough-going illness.

I swear to you that to think too much is a disease, a real, actual disease.

how anxiously I yearned for those I had forsaken.

I tell you solemnly, that I have many times tried to become an insect. But I was not equal even to that. I swear, gentlemen, that to be too conscious is an illness- a real thorough-going illness.

Consciousness is man's greatest misfortune, still I know that man loves it and will not exchange it for any satisfactions.

Strength, strength is what I need; nothing can be done without strength; and strength must be gained by strength.

It seems to me that the whole of human life can be summed up in the one statement that man only exists for the purpose of proving to himself every minute that he is a man and not an organ.

If I had had the power to prevent my own birth I should certainly never have consented to accept existence under such ridiculous conditions.

If God does not exist, everything is permitted.

It's precisely in despair that you find the most intense pleasure, especially if you are already powerfully conscious of the hopelessness of your predicament.

Do you know that I love now to recall and visit at certain dates the places where Iwas once happy in my own way? I love to build up my present in harmony with the irrevocable past...

People talk sometimes of 'bestial' cruelty, but that's a great injustice and insult to the beast; a beast can never be so cruel as a man, so artistically, so artfully cruel.

Loving someone is different from being in love with someone. You can hate someone you're in love with

We degrade God too much, ascribing to him our ideas, in vexation at being unable to understand Him.

I renounce the higher harmony altogether. It's not worth the tears of that one tortured child who...prayed..with...unexpiated tears to 'dear,kind God!

I'm drunk but truthful.

I believe he was feeling a bit nervous. Possibly it was my costume that took him aback. I was dressed quite well, even elegantly, and looked as if I belonged to the best society.

I can't bear the thought that a man of lofty mind and heart begins with the ideal of the Madonna and ends with the ideal of Sodom.

Education has nothing whatever to do with moral deterioration; and if one must admit that it develops a resolute spirit among the people, that is far from being a defect.

Man is a vile creature!

It is not as a child that I believe and confess Jesus Christ. My hosanna is born of a furnace of doubt.

Love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams.

The soul is healed by being with children.

Man only likes to count his troubles; he doesn't calculate his happiness.

I love mankind, he said, "but I find to my amazement that the more I love mankind as a whole, the less I love man in particular.

Love children especially, for they too are sinless like the angels; they live to soften and purify our hearts and, as it were, to guide us.

Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.

Believe to the end, even if all men went astray and you were left the only one faithful; bring your offering even then and praise God in your loneliness.

What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love.

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.

Don't be surprised that I value prejudice, observe certain conventions, seek power--it's because I know I live in an empty society.

For if there's no everlasting God, there's no such thing as virtue, and there's no need of it.

If someone proved to me that Christ is outside the truth, and that in reality the truth were outside of Christ, then I should prefer to remain with Christ rather than with the truth.

Instead of giving a firm foundation for setting the conscience of man at rest forever, Thou didst choose all that is exceptional, vague and enigmatic.

Life had stepped into the place of theory and something quite different would work itself out in his mind.

Try and set yourself the task not to think of a white bear, and the cursed thing comes to mind every minute.

To love is to suffer and there can be no love otherwise.

originality and a feeling of one's own dignity are achieved only through work and struggle.

Equality lies only in human moral dignity. ... Let there be brothers first, then there will be brotherhood, and only then will there be a fair sharing of goods among brothers.

Where's the bit about Lazarus? he asked.

To love someone means to see them as God intended them.

In short, the right given to one man to inflict corporal punishment on another is one of the ulcers of society, one of the most powerful destructive agents of every germ and every budding attempt at civilization, the fundamental cause of its certain and irretrievable destruction.

Man is a mystery. It needs to be unravelled, and if you spend your whole life unravelling it, don't say that you've wasted time. I am studying that mystery because I want to be a human being.

He was one of the numerous and varied legion of dullards, of half-animated abortions, conceited, half-educated coxcombs, who attach themselves to the idea most in fashion only to vulgarize it and who caricature every cause they serve, however sincerely.

Intelligence alone is not nearly enough when it comes to acting wisely.

My God, a moment of bliss. Why, isn't that enough for a whole lifetime~?

We are all happy if we but knew it.

Here is a commandment for you: seek happiness in sorrow. Work, work tirelessly.

Oh, how unbearable is a happy person sometimes!

Drive nature out of the door and it will fly in at the window