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Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Dostoevsky Quotes

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Famous Fyodor Dostoevsky Quotes

“I am a sick man...I am a wicked man. An unattractive man. I think my liver hurts. However, i don't know a fig about my sickness, and am not sure what it is that hurts me. I am not being treated and never have been, though I respect medicine. What's more, I am also superstitious in the extreme; well, at least enough to respect medicine.”

ThinkingKnowsMenWellsHas BeensEnoughHurtSickMedicineExtremesTreatedNot SureWickedSicknessHurt MeLiverSuperstitiousUnattractiveFigsRespect MeWicked ManSick Man
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“We're always thinking of eternity as an idea that cannot be understood, something immense. But why must it be? What if, instead of all this, you suddenly find just a little room there, something like a village bath-house, grimy, and spiders in every corner, and that's all eternity is. Sometimes, you know, I can't help feeling that that's what it is.”

IfsThinkingKnowsLittlesI CanIdeasSometimesHelpingFeelingsHouseRoomsUnderstoodEternityCornersWhat IfVillageImmenseSpidersBathsAlways ThinkingCrime And Punishment
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth.”

ThinkingMenInspirationalHeartEarthPainSufferingSadnessSorrowSadIntelligencePunishmentInevitableGreat MenReally GreatDeep ThoughtAccuracyInevitabilityPain And SufferingSufferersCrime And PunishmentBig HeartLong SufferingPain And SorrowSuffering And PainDeepest FeelingsPain SufferingRaskolnikovDeep Heart
Book:The 10 Greatest Books of All Time
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“Where is it I've read that someone condemned to death says or thinks, an hour before his death, that if he had to live on some high rock, on such a narrow ledge that he'd only room to stand, and the ocean, everlasting darkness, everlasting solitude, everlasting tempest around him, if he had to remain standing on a square yard of space all his life, a thousand years, eternity, it were better to live so than to die at once. Only to live, to live and live! Life, whatever it may be!”

IfsThinkingYearsMayDiesHoursSpaceRoomsDarknessRocksThousandSolitudeOceanStandingEternityPunishmentLive LifeSquaresThousand YearsYardsEverlastingTempestCrime And PunishmentLedgesRaskolnikov
Book:The 10 Greatest Books of All Time
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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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“Do you think it is a vain hope that one day man will find joy in noble deeds of light and mercy, rather than in the coarse pleasures he indulges in today -- gluttony, fornication, ostentation, boasting, and envious vying with his neighbor? I am certain this is not a vain hope and that the day will come soon.”

ThinkingMenLightTodayJoyCertainPleasureOne DayMercyDeedsNobleNeighborVainBoastIndulgeEnviousIndulge InGluttonyCoarseOstentationNoble Deeds
Book:The Brothers Karamazov
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“I think everyone must love life more than anything else in the world.' 'Love life more than the meaning of it?' 'Yes, certainly. Love it regardless of logic, as you say. Yes, most certainly regardless of logic, for only then will I grasp its meaning. That's what I've been vaguely aware of for a long time. Half your work is done, Ivan: you love life. Now you must try to do the second half and you are saved.”

ThinkingWorldTryingLongDoneHalfLong TimeLogicSavedLove LifeWorld Love
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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“What tender and devoted mother wouldn't be dismayed and ill with terror at her son's or daughter's stepping even one hair's breath off the beaten track. No, better let him be happy and live in comfort without originality, is what every mother thinks when she rocks the cradle. The only person among us who can fail to reach the general's rank is the original man - in other words, the man who won't be quiet.”

ThinkingMenPersonsMotherCreativityFailingSocietyRocksHe ManSonHairComfortQuietDaughterBreathsOriginalsIllTrackTerrorOriginalityDevotedBeatenCradleDismayed
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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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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“...a condemned man who, at the hour of death, says or thinks that if the alternative were offered him of existing somewhere, on a height of rock or some narrow elevation, where only his two feet could stand, and round about him the ocean, perpetual gloom, perpetual solitude, perpetual storm, to remain there standing on a yard of surface for a lifetime, a thousand years, eternity! - rather would he live thus than die at once? Only live, live, live! - no matter how, only live!”

IfsThinkingMenYearsTwoMatterDiesHoursFeetRocksThousandSolitudeOceanStandingEternityLifetimeRoundsStormSurfaceAlternativesHeightPerpetualThousand YearsYardsGloomElevation
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“I wanted to pray for an hour, but I keep thinking and thinking, and always sick thoughts, and my head aches - what is the use of praying? - it's only a sin! It is strange, too, that I am not sleepy: in great, too great sorrow, after the first outbursts one is always sleepy. Men condemned to death, they say, sleep very soundly on the last night. And so it must be, it si the law of nature, otherwise their strength would not hold out... I lay down on the sofa but I did not sleep...”

ThinkingMenFirstsUseWantedLastsLawNightHoursSleepSinStrangePrayingSorrowSickLaysAcheLast NightLaws Of NatureSleepySofasOutburst
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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