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Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Dostoevsky Quotes

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Famous Fyodor Dostoevsky Quotes

“You see, gentlemen, reason is an excellent thing, there’s no disputing that, but reason is nothing but reason and satisfies only the rational side of man’s nature, while will is a manifestation of the whole life, that is, of the whole human life including reason and all the impulses. And although our life, in this manifestation of it, is often worthless, yet it is life and not simply extracting square roots.”

MenHumansReasonWholeSidesOur LivesRootsIncludingWhole LifeRationalImpulseExcellentHuman LifeManifestationGentlemanSquaresWorthlessSquare Roots
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“Imagine that you are creating a fabric of human destiny with the object of making men happy in the end, giving them peace and rest at last. Imagine that you are doing this but that it is essential and inevitable to torture to death only one tiny creature...in order to found that edifice on its unavenged tears. Would you consent to be the architect on those conditions? Tell me. Tell the truth.”

MenGivingHumansEndsLastsOrderFoundDestinyImagineConditionsObjectsTearsCreaturesEssentialsCreatingTinyInevitableTortureTelling The TruthArchitectImagine ThatFabricConsentEdificeBrothers Karamazov
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“But it is possible, it is possible: the old grief, by a great mystery of human life, gradually passes into quiet, tender joy; instead of young, ebullient blood comes a mild, serene old age: I bless the sun's rising each day and my heart sings to it as before, but now I love its setting even more, its long slanting rays, and with them quiet, mild, tender memories, dear images from the whole of a long and blessed life--and over all is God's truth, moving, reconciling, all-forgiving!”

HumansHeartLongWholeAgeMovingYoungJoyMemoriesGriefSunMysteryBloodMy HeartQuietBlessedForgivingDearSettingOld AgeSettingsHuman LifeRisingEach DayBlessRaysSereneBlessed Life
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“If you wish to glimpse inside a human soul and get to know a man, don't bother analyzing his ways of being silent, of talking, of weeping, of seeing how much he is moved by noble ideas; you will get better results if you just watch him laugh. If he laughs well, he's a good man.”

IfsKnowsMenWayHumansWellsIdeasSoulWishResultsTalkingWatchesLaughingSeeingLaughterMovedSilentNobleBotherGet BetterGood ManGlimpseHuman SoulWeepingAnalyzingGood LaughHave A LaughSmile And LaughLaughs And SmilesHappiness And LaughterLaughter And JoyInspirational Laughter
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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“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.”

PeopleHumansMatterLife IsSpiritLyingLostHuman BeingsForeverHavensBrotherTasksNo Matter WhatMisfortunes
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“‎Honoured sir, poverty is not a vice, that's a true saying. Yet I know too that drunkeness is not a virtue, and that's even truer. But beggary, honoured sir, beggary is a vice. In poverty you may still retain your innate nobility of soul, but in beggary--never--no one. For beggary a man is not chased out of human society with a stick, he is swept out with a broom, so as to make it as humiliating as possible; and quite right, too, forasmuch as in beggary as I am ready to be the first to humiliate myself.”

KnowsMenFirstsHumansMayStillsSoulPovertyVirtueReadySticksVicesNobilityInnateHuman SocietyHumiliatingHumiliateBroomsBeggary
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“Whoever has experienced the power and the unrestrained ability to humiliate another human being automatically loses his own sensations. Tyranny is a habit, it has its own organic life, it develops finally into a disease. The habit can kill and coarsen the very best man or woman to the level of a beast. Blood and power intoxicate ... the return of the human dignity, repentance and regeneration becomes almost impossible.”

MenHumansLosesHuman BeingsAbilityLevelsImpossibleBloodReturnHabitDiseaseDignityTyrannyBeastRepentanceSensationsHuman DignityRegenerationHumiliateOrganic Life
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“Even there, in the mines, underground, I may find a human heart in another convict and murderer by my side, and I may make friends with him, for even there one may live and love and suffer. One may thaw and revive a frozen heart in that convict, one may wait upon him for years, and at last bring up from the dark depths a lofty soul, a feeling, suffering creature; one may bring forth an angel, create a hero! There are so many of them, hundreds of them, and we are all to blame for them. [...] If they drive God from the earth, we shall shelter Him underground.”

IfsYearsHumansHeartMaySoulFeelingsEarthLastsSufferingWaitingSidesDarkMinesHeroCreaturesAngelAnd LoveBlameDepthShelterHuman HeartFrozenMurdererLoftyReviveConvictsBrothers KaramazovLive And Love
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“Though I do not believe in the order of things, still the sticky little leaves that come out in the spring are dear to me, the blue sky is dear to me, some people are dear to me, whom one loves sometimes, would you believe it, without even knowing why; some human deeds are dear to me, which one has perhaps long ceased believing in, but still honors with one's heart, out of old habit..." --Ivan Karamazov”

PeopleBelieveHumansHeartLittlesLongStillsSometimesOrderKnowingSkyHabitHonorSpringBlueDearDeedsOne LoveBlue SkyStickyOld Habits
Book:The Brothers Karamazov: A Novel in Four Parts With Epilogue
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“It is precisely that requirement of shared worship that has been the principal source of suffering for individual man and the human race since the beginning of history. In their efforts to impose universal worship, men have unsheathed their swords and killed one another. They have invented gods and challenged each other: "Discard your gods and worship mine or I will destroy both your gods and you!"”

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Book:The Brothers Karamazov
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“After all, I quite naturally want to live in order to fulfill my whole capacity for living, and not in order to fulfill my reasoning capacity alone, which is no more than some one-twentieth of my capacity for living. What does reason know? It knows only what it has managed to learn (and it may never learn anything else; that isn't very reassuring, but why not admit it?), while human nature acts as a complete entity, with all that is in it, consciously or unconsciously; and though it may be wrong, it's nevertheless alive.”

KnowsWantLifeHumansMayDoeReasonWholeOrderAliveHuman NatureCapacityLive LifeReasoningWhy NotEntityNeverthelessReassuring
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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