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Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Dostoevsky Quotes

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Famous Fyodor Dostoevsky Quotes

“Christ knew that by bread alone you cannot reanimate man. If there were no spiritual life, no ideal of Beauty, man would pine away, die, go mad, kill himself or give himself to pagan fantasies. And as Christ, the ideal of Beauty in Himself and his Word, he decided it was better to implant the ideal of Beauty in the soul. If it exists in the soul, each would be the brother of everyone else and then, of course, working for each other, all would also be rich. Whereas if you give them bread, they might become enemies to each other out of boredom.”

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Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“But what about me? I suffer, but still, I don’t live. I am x in an indeterminate equation. I am a sort of phantom in life who has lost all beginning and end, and who has even forgotten his own name. You are laughing- no, you are not laughing, you are angry again. You are forever angry, all you care about is intelligence, but I repeat again that I would give away all this superstellar life, all the ranks and honours, simply to be transformed into the soul of a merchant’s wife weighing eighteen stone and set candles at God’s shrine”

LifeSoulDevilDeliriumDostoevskyIvanIvan KaramazovKaramazov Brothers
Book:The Brothers Karamazov
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“Filled with rapture, his soul yearned for freedom, space, vastness. Over him the heavenly dome, full of quiet, shining stars, hung boundlessly. From the zenith to the horizon the still-dim Milky Way stretched its double strand. Night, fresh and quiet, almost unstirring, enveloped the earth. The white towers and golden domes of the church gleamed in the sapphire sky. The luxuriant autumn asleep till morning. The silence of the earth seemed to merge with the silence of the heavens and the mystery of the earth touched the mystery of the stars.”

WayStillsSoulEarthNightHeavenStarsChurchSpaceWhiteSilenceMorningMysterySkyQuietFilledShiningGoldenTouchedHeavenlyAutumnHorizonHungTowersRaptureStrandsVastnessDomesMilky WayZenithShining StarSapphires
Book:The Brothers Karamazov: A Novel in Four Parts With Epilogue
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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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“By the experience of active love. Strive to love your neighbour actively and indefatigably. In as far as you advance in love you will grow surer of the reality of God and of the immortality of your soul. If you attain to perfect self-forgetfulness in the love of your neighbour, then you will believe without doubt, and no doubt can possibly enter your soul. This has been tried. This is certain.”

IfsBelieveHas BeensSoulSelfRealityCertainGrowsPerfectDoubtLove YouStriveActiveYour SoulImmortalityNo DoubtNeighbourForgetfulnessSelf Forgetfulness
Book:The Brothers Karamazov (English Russian Edition illustrated): Братья Карамазовы (англо-русская редакция иллюстрированная)
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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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“You cannot imagine what sorrow and anger seize one's whole soul when a great idea, which one has long and piously revered, is picked up by some bunglers and dragged into the street, to more fools like themselves, and one suddenly meets it in the flea market, unrecognizable, dirty, askew, absurdly presented, without proportion, without harmony, a toy for stupid children.”

ChildrenLongIdeasSoulWholeImagineStreetsStupidFoolSorrowHarmonyDirtyProportionToysGreat IdeaFleasFlea Markets
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“It sometimes happened that you might be familiar with a man for several years thinking he was a wild animal, and you would regard him with contempt. And then suddenly a moment would arrive when some uncontrollable impulse would lay his soul bare, and you would behold in it such riches, such sensitivity and warmth, such a vivid awareness of its own suffering and the suffering of others, that the scales would fall from your eyes and at first you would hardly be able to believe what you had seen and heard. The reverse also happens.”

ThinkingMenYearsFirstsBelieveSoulSometimesMomentsMightHappensEyeAbleSufferingFallAnimalHappenedHeardAwarenessRegardLaysRichesScalesFamiliarImpulseWarmthContemptReverseSensitivityVividWild AnimalUncontrollableSuffering Of Others
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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“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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“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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“Sarcasm: the last refuge of modest and chaste-souled people when the privacy of their soul is coarsely and intrusively invaded.”

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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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“When I look back on my past and think how much time I wasted on nothing, how much time has been lost in futilities, errors, laziness, incapacity to live; how little I appreciated it, how many times I sinned against my heart and soul-then my heart bleeds. Life is a gift, life is happiness, every minute can be an eternity of happiness.”

ThinkingLooksHeartLittlesHas BeensSoulPastMovingLife IsLostMinutesMy HeartEternityErrorsMoving OnLazinessAppreciatedHeart And SoulMy PastFutilityIncapacityLife Is A Gift
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“I've made a terrible confession to you, he concluded gloomily. Do appreciate it, gentlemen. And it's not enough, not enough to appreciate it, you must not just appreciate it, it should also be precious to you, and if not, if this, too, goes past your souls, then it means you really do not respect me, gentlemen. I tell you that, and I will die of shame at having confessed to such men as you.”

IfsMenShouldMeanMadeSoulEnoughPastDiesTerribleAppreciateShameYour SoulGentlemanConfessionRespect Me
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“Remember, too, every day, and whenever you can, repeat to yourself, Lord, have mercy on all who appear before Thee today. For every hour and every moment thousands of men leave life on this earth, and their souls appear before God. And how many of them depart in solitude, unknown, sad, dejected that no one mourns for them or even knows whether they have lived or not!”

KnowsMenSoulMomentsTodayEarthRememberHoursLordSolitudeMercyTheeRepeatsMournDejected
Book:The Brothers Karamazov
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