Fyodor Dostoyevsky Quotes (341 Quotes)

Clearly, he now had not to be anguished, not to suffer passively, by mere reasoning about unresolvable questions, but to do something without fail, at once, quickly.

It's the moon that makes it so still, weaving some mystery.

That's as it should be, they tell us. A certain percentage, they tell us, must every year go, that way, to the devil, I suppose, so that the rest may remain chaste, and not be interfered with. A percentage! What splendid words they have; they are so scientific, so consolatory.

What if man is not really a scoundrel, man in general, I mean, the whole race of mankind-then all the rest is prejudice, simply artificial terrors and there are no barriers and it's all as it should be.

For a woman, all resurrection, all salvation, from whatever perdition, lies in love; in fact, it is her only way to it.

I will tell you another thing that would be better, and that is, if I myself believe even an iota of what I have just written. I swear to you, gentlemen, that I do not really believe one thing, not even one word, of what I have just written. That is, I believe it, perhaps, but at the same time, I feel suspect that I am lying myself blue in the face.

Sometimes I'd hate to talk to anyone, and at other times I'd not only talk to people, but would even take it into my head to be friends with them.

Ah, Misha, he has a stormy spirit. His mind is in bondage. He is haunted by a great, unsolved doubt. He is one of those who don't want millions, but an answer to their questions.

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.

Fancy pants, the monk can dance!

He who loves men, loves their joy.

I punish myself for my whole life, my whole life I punish.

It was impossible to tell at first sight whether he loved his meek, obedient wife, Marfa. But he really did lover her, and she knew it.

Love it, regardless of logic as you say. It must be regardless of logic.

Schoolboys are a merciless race, individually they are angels, but together, especially in schools, they are often merciless.

The world stands on absurdities, and without them perhaps nothing at all would happen.

To whom is he to go if you are not together, mother and father?

You will burn and you will burn out; you will be healed and come back again.

I think that if one is faced by inevitable destruction -- if a house is falling upon you, for instance -- one must feel a great longing to sit down, close one's eyes and wait, come what may . . .

We must name the eminent and fascinating Prince N. - once the vanquisher of female hearts all over Europe.

Don't be overwise; fling yourself straight into life, without deliberation; don't be afraid - the flood will bear you to the bank and set you safe on your feet again.

Kto sumienie posiada, niech cierpi, skoro zda? sobie sprawe; z pomy?ki. Be;dzie mu to kara; - obok katorgi.

That's just the point: an honest and sensitive man opens his heart, and the man of business goes on eating - and then he eats you up.

What's most revolting is that one is really sad! No, it's better at home. Here at least one blames others for everything and excuses oneself.

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.

In despair there are the most intense enjoyments, especially when one is acutely conscious of the hopelessness of one's position.

Suppose, gentleman, that man is not stupid.

Alyosha brought with him something his father had never known before: a complete absence of contempt for him and a consistent kindness, a perfectly natural, unaffected devotion to the old man who deserved so little.

Brother, I'm not depressed and haven't lost spirit. Life everywhere is life, life is in ourselves and not in the external. There will be people near me, and to be a human being among human beings, and remain one forever, no matter what misfortunes befall, not to become depressed, and not to falter - this is what life is, herein lies its task.

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.

Hell is the inability to love.

I really feel obliged to go to this confounded luncheon.

It's always worthwhile speaking to a clever man.

Love life more than the meaning of it?

She has known all the time that I cared for her--though I never said a word of my love to her--

There are people who feel deeply but are somehow beaten down. Their buffoonery is something like a spiteful irony against those to whom they dare not speak the truth directly because of a long-standing, humiliating timidity before them. Believe me, Krasotkin, such buffoonery is sometimes extremely tragic.

We are full of hatred, my girl, you and I! We are both full of hatred! As though we could forgive on another! Save him, and I'll worship you all my life.

Your poem was in praise of Jesus, not in blame of Him--as you meant it to be.

If he's alive he has everything in his power! Whose fault is it he doesn't understand that

We must never forget that human motives are generally far more complicated than we are apt to suppose, and that we can very rarely accurately describe the motives of another.

Dreams appear much more prominent and clear when the dreamer is in an unhealthy state - they have an extraordinary semblance of reality. Most monstrous pictures are put together but all the circumstances are so subtly interwoven the details so artistically harmonious in every minute respect as to defy human imitation. Such morbid dreams are always recollected for very long and produce strong impressions on the disordered and already excited organs of the dreamer.

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

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.

When reason fails, the devil helps!

For what is man without desires, without free will, and without the power of choice but a stop in an organ pipe?

It is a law of nature that every decent man on earth is bound to be a coward and a slave

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

Alyosha was certain that no one in the whole world ever would want to hurt him, and what is more, he knew that no one could hurt him. This was for him an axiom, assumed once and for all without question. And he went his way without hesitation, relying on it.

But I always liked side-paths, little dark back-alleys behind the main road- there one finds adventures and surprises, and precious metal in the dirt.

For all is like an ocean, all flows and connects; touch it in one place and it echoes at the other end of the world.