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Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Dostoevsky Quotes

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Famous Fyodor Dostoevsky Quotes

“With old liars who have been acting all their lives there are moments when they enter so completely into their part that they tremble or shed tears in earnest, although at that very moment, or a second later, they are able to whisper to themselves, "You know you are lying, you shameless old sinner! You're acting now, in spite of your 'holy' wrath.”

KnowsHas BeensMomentsAbleLyingActingTearsHolySpiteSinnerLiarsShedEarnestWrathShamelessActing Now
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“There is something at the bottom of every new human thought, every thought of genius, or even every earnest thought that springs up in any brain, which can never be communicated to others, even if one were to write volumes about it and were explaining one's idea for thirty-five years; there's something left which cannot be induced to emerge from your brain, and remains with you forever; and with it you will die, without communicating to anyone perhaps the most important of your ideas.”

IfsWritingYearsHumansImportantIdeasDiesLeftBrainForeverFiveGeniusSpringRemainsBottomCommunicateThirtyFive YearsVolumeEarnestExplainingHuman Thought
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“There is nothing in the world more difficult than candor, and nothing easier than flattery. If there is a hundredth of a fraction of a false note to candor, it immediately produces dissonance, and as a result, exposure. But in flattery, even if everything is false down to the last note, it is still pleasant, and people will listen not without pleasure; with coarse pleasure, perhaps, but pleasure nevertheless.”

PeopleIfsWorldStillsLastsDifficultPleasureResultsProduceEasierNotesPleasantNeverthelessFlatteryExposureFractionsCandorCoarseDissonance
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“And why are you so firmly, so triumphantly, convinced that only the normal and the positive--in other words, only what is conducive to welfare--is for the advantage of man? Is not reason in error as regards advantage? Does not man, perhaps, love something besides well-being? Perhaps he is just as fond of suffering? Perhaps suffering is just as great a benefit to him as well-being? Man is sometimes extraordinarily, passionately, in love with suffering, and that is a fact.”

MenWellsDoeSometimesReasonFactsSufferingNormalBenefitsAdvantageRegardErrorsConvincedWell BeingWelfarePerhaps Love
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“But it's precisely in this cold, loathsome half-despair, half-belief, in this deliberate burying of yourself underground for forty years out of sheer pain, in this assiduously constructed, and yet somewhat dubious hopelessness, in all this poision of unfulfilled desires turned inward, this fever of vacillations, of resolutions adopted for eternity, and of repentances a moment later that you find the very essence of that strange, sharp pleasure.”

YearsMomentsPainDesireBeliefPleasureHalfStrangeColdDespairEssenceEternityFortyResolutionRepentanceInwardSheerHopelessnessAdoptedDeliberateFeverDubiousBuryingUnfulfilled DesiresVacillation
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“What makes a hero? Courage, strength, morality, withstanding adversity? Are these the traits that truly show and create a hero? Is the light truly the source of darkness or vice versa? Is the soul a source of hope or despair? Who are these so called heroes and where do they come from? Are their origins in obscurity or in plain sight?”

SoulShowsLightDarknessSourceHeroMoralityDespairSightAdversityVicesTraitsObscurityVice VersaCourage StrengthPlain SightWithstanding
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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