Fyodor Dostoyevsky Quotes (341 Quotes)

And why, just at the moment when he had brought away the embryo of his idea from the old woman had he dropped at once upon a conversation about her?

It takes something more than intelligence to act intelligently.

She looked much younger than her age, indeed, which is almost always the case with women who retain serenity of spirit, sensitiveness and pure sincere warmth of heart to old age.

Truly great men must, I think, experience great sorrow on the earth.

Can a man of perception respect himself at all?

I swear to you, sirs, that excessive consciousness is a disease--a genuine, absolute disease.

One's own free and unfettered volition, one's own caprice, however wild, one's own fancy, inflamed sometimes to the point of madness - that is the one best and greatest good, which is never taken into consideration because it cannot fit into any classification and the omission of which sends all systems and theories to the devil.

A beast can never be as cruel as a human being, so artistically, so picturesquely cruel.

Beggars, especially noble beggars, should never show themselves in the street; they should ask for alms through the newspapers. It's still possible to love one's neighbor abstractly, and even occasionally from a distance, but hardly ever up close.

Everyone is striving to unite particulars and find at least some general sense in the general senselessness.

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.

I feel pity for him, and that is a poor sign of love.

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.

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

Paradise is hidden in each one of use, it is concealed within me too, right now, and if I wish, it will come for me in reality, tomorrow even, and for the rest of my life.

The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.

Those innocent eyes cut my soul like a razor...however, in a depraved man this, too, might be only a sensual attraction.

You can't be angry with me, because I am a hundred times more severely punished than you, if only by the fact that I shall never see you again.

God knows what is in me in place of me.

The prince says that the world will be saved by beauty! And I maintain that the reason he has such playful ideas is that he is in love.

Break what must be broken, once for all, that's all, and take the suffering on oneself.

It wasn't you I was bowing to, but the whole of human suffering.

Suffering is part and parcel of extensive intelligence and a feeling heart.

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?

Every decent man of our age must be a coward and a slave. That is his normal condition. Of that I am firmly persuaded. He is made and constructed to that very end. And not only at the present time owing to some casual circumstance, but always, at all times, a decent man is bound to be a coward and a slave.

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.

One's very own free, unfettered desire, one's own whim, no matter how wild, one's own fantasy, even though sometimes roused to the point of madness-all this constitutes precisely that previously omitted, most advantageous advantage which isn't included under any classification and because of which all systems and theories are constantly smashed to smithereens.

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.

Being at a loss to resolve these questions, I am resolved to leave them without any resolution.

Everything passes, only truth remains.