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Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Dostoevsky Quotes

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Famous Fyodor Dostoevsky Quotes

“It seemed clear to me that life and the world somehow depended upon me now. I may almost say that the world now seemed created for me alone: if I shot myself the world would cease to be at least for me. I say nothing of its being likely that nothing will exist for anyone when I am gone, and that as soon as my consciousness is extinguished the whole world will vanish too and become void like a phantom , as a mere appurtenance of my consciousness, for possibly all this world and all these people are only me myself.”

PeopleIfsWorldMayWholeConsciousnessGoneClearThis WorldShotsMereCeaseWhole WorldVoidMe AlonePhantoms
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“All people seem to be divided into'ordinary'and 'extraordinary'. The ordinary people must lead a life of strict obedience and have no right to transgress the law because?theyare ordinary.Whereas the extraordinary people have the right to commit any crime they like and transgress the law in any way just because they happen to be extraordinary.”

PeopleWaySeemsHappensLawCrimeOrdinaryExtraordinaryCommitObedienceDividedStrictOrdinary PeopleOrdinary And ExtraordinaryOrdinary Extraordinary
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“By interpreting freedom as the propagation and immediate gratification of needs, people distort their own nature, for they engender in themselves a multitude of pointless and foolish desires, habits, and incongruous stratagems. Their lives are motivated only by mutual envy, sensuality, and ostentation.”

PeopleNeedsDesireNatureFreedomHabitEnvyFoolishSensualityMutualMotivatedMultitudesGratificationPointlessInterpretingStratagemPropagationOstentationImmediate Gratification
Book:The Karamazov Brothers
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“As soon as any one is near me, his personality disturbs my self-complacency and restricts my freedom. In twenty-four hours I begin to hate the best of men: one because he's too long over his dinner; another because he has a cold and keeps on blowing his nose. I become hostile to people the moment they come close to me. But it has always happened that the more I detest men individually the more ardent becomes my love for humanity.”

PeopleMenLongSelfMomentsHateHumanityHoursFourHappenedColdPersonalityTwentiesDinnerNosesHostileComplacencyArdentDetestBest Of MeLove For Humanity
Book:The Greatest Works of Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment + The Brother's Karamazov + The Idiot + Notes from Underground + The Gambler + Demons (The Possessed / The Devils)
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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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“Know, then, that now, precisely now, these people are more certain than ever before that they are completely free, and at the same time they themselves have brought us their freedom and obediently laid it at our feet. It is our doing, but is it what you wanted? This sort of freedom?' Again I don't understand', Alyosha interrupted, 'Is he being ironic? Is he laughing?' Not in the least. He precisely lays it to his and his colleagues' credit that they have finally overcome freedom, and have done so in order to make people happy.”

PeopleKnowsDoneWantedCertainOrderLaughingFeetOvercomingLaysCreditIronicColleaguesInterruptedMaking People Happy
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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“... active love is a harsh and fearful thing compared with the love in dreams. Love in dreams thirsts for immediate action, quickly performed, and with everyone watching. Indeed, it will go as far as the giving even of one's life, provided it does not take long but is soon over, as on stage, and eveyone is looking on and praising. Whereas active love is labor and persistence, and for some people, perhaps, a whole science.”

PeopleLoveGivingLongDoeWholeDreamActionLove IsStageLaborPraiseActivePersistenceFearfulHarshThirstImmediate Action
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“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.”

PeopleWorldTryingFatherHeavenBitsHarderRewardsExpensesExpectingVirtuousMonkMonasteriesBrothers KaramazovRewards In Heaven
Book:The Brothers Karamazov (English Russian Edition illustrated): Братья Карамазовы (англо-русская редакция иллюстрированная)
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“Nothing could be more absurd than moral lessons at such a moment! Oh, self-satisfied people: with what proud self-satisfaction such babblers are ready to utter their pronouncements! If they only knew to what degree I myself understand all the loathsomeness of my present condition, they wouldn't have the heart to teach me.”

PeopleIfsHeartSelfMomentsMoralTeachConditionsReadyProudLessonsDegreesSatisfactionSatisfiedAbsurdSelf-satisfactionMoral Lessons
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“People talk sometimes of a bestial cruelty, but that's a great injustice and insult to the beasts; a beast can never be so cruel as a man, so artistically cruel. The tiger only tears and gnaws, that's all he can do. He would never think of nailing people by the ears, even if he were able to do it.”

PeopleIfsThinkingMenSometimesAbleCan DoTearsEarsInjusticeCrueltyBeastInsultTigersBrothers Karamazov
Book:The Brothers Karamazov (English Russian Edition illustrated): Братья Карамазовы (англо-русская редакция иллюстрированная)
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“I did not understand that she was hiding her feelings under irony, that this is usually the last refuge of modest and chaste-souled people when the privacy of their soul is coarsely and intrusively invaded, and that their pride makes them refuse to surrender till the last moment and shrink from giving expression to their feelings before you. to have guessed the truth from the timidity with which she had repeatedly approached her sarcasm, only bringing herself to utter it at last with an effort.”

PeopleGivingSoulMomentsFeelingsLastsEffortExpressionPrideRefuseSurrenderIronyPrivacySarcasmHidingRefugeModestShrinksTimidityChaste
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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“Reason and Knowledge have always played a secondary, subordinate, auxiliary role in the life of peoples, and this will always be the case. A people is shaped and driven forward by an entirely different kind of force, one which commands and coerces them and the origin of which is obscure and inexplicable despite the reality of its presence.”

PeopleKindDifferentReasonRealityForceExistenceRolesCasesDrivenCommandDespiteDifferent KindsObscureHuman ExistenceSubordinatesInexplicableCoerce
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“Sarcasm: the last refuge of modest and chaste-souled people when the privacy of their soul is coarsely and intrusively invaded.”

PeopleSoulLastsLiteraturePrivacySarcasmSarcasticRefugeModestGood AdviceChaste
Book:The Greatest Works of Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment + The Brother's Karamazov + The Idiot + Notes from Underground + The Gambler + Demons (The Possessed / The Devils)
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“You know, my boy, he said, it's impossible to love men such as they are. And yet we must. So try to do good to men by doing violence to your feelings, holding your nose, and shutting your eyes, especially shutting your eyes. Endure their villainy without anger, as much as possible; try to remember that you're a man too. For, if you're even a little above average intelligence, you'll have the propensity to judge people severely. Men are vile by nature and they'd rather love out of fear. Don't give in to such love: despise it always.”

PeopleIfsKnowsMenLoveGivingTryingLittlesSaidFeelingsEyeAgeRememberBoysViolenceImpossibleJudgingEndureAverageNosesDespisePropensityMy BoysVillainyAbove Average
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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