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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.”

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Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“Listen, in dreams and especially in nightmares, from indigestion or anything, a man sees sometimes such artistic visions, such complex and real actuality, such events, even a whole world of events, woven into such a plot, with such unexpected details from the most exalted matters to the last button on a cuff, as I swear Leo Tolstoy has never invented.”

MenWorldRealSometimesMatterWholeDreamLastsVisionEventsComplexesDetailsWhole WorldArtisticUnexpectedNightmarePlotSwearButtonsWovenExaltedActualityIndigestionCuffsArtistic Vision
Book:The Brothers Karamazov
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“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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“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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“No, I can't admit it. Brother,' said Alyosha suddenly, with flashing eyes, 'you said just now, is there a being in the whole world who would have the right to forgive and could firgive? But there is a Being and He can forgive everything, all and for all, because He gave His innocent blood for all and everything. You have forgotten Him, and on Him is built the edifice, and it is to Him they cry aloud, "Thou art just, O Lord, for Thy ways are revealed!”

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Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“Love all God’s creation, both the whole and every grain of sand. Love every leaf, every ray of light. Love the animals, love the plants, love each separate thing. If thou love each thing thou wilt perceive the mystery of God in all; and when once thou perceive this, thou wilt thenceforward grow every day to a fuller understanding of it: until thou come at last to love the whole world with a love that will then be all-embracing and universal.”

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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.”

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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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“I used to analyze myself down to the last thread, used to compare myself with others, recalled all the smallest glances, smiles and words of those to whom I’d tried to be frank, interpreted everything in a bad light, laughed viciously at my attempts ‘to be like the rest’ –and suddenly, in the midst of my laughing, I’d give way to sadness, fall into ludicrous despondency and once again start the whole process all over again – in short, I went round and round like a squirrel on a wheel.”

WayGivingWholeLightLastsUsedFallProcessLaughingSadnessRoundsCompareWheelsMidstLaughedFrankThreadSmallestGlancesSquirrelsDespondency
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“And do you know, do you know that mankind can live without the Englishman, it can live without Germany, it can live only too well without the Russian man, it can live without science, without bread, and it only cannot live without beauty, for then there would be nothing at all to do in the world! The whole secret is here, the whole of history is here. Science itself would not stand for a minute without beauty”

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Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“I am a wicked man... But do you know, gentlemen, what was the main point about my wickedness? The whole thing, precisely was, the greatest nastiness precisely lay in my being shamefully conscious every moment, even in moments of the greatest bile, that I was not only not a wicked man but was not even an embittered man, that I was simply frightening sparrows in vain, and pleasing myself with it.”

KnowsMenWholeMomentsConsciousLaysVainGentlemanWickedDo You KnowFrighteningWickednessSparrowsWicked ManNastiness
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“I am a dreamer. I know so little of real life that I just can’t help re-living such moments as these in my dreams, for such moments are something I have very rarely experienced. I am going to dream about you the whole night, the whole week, the whole year.”

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Book:The Best Short Stories of Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“If you are penitent, you love. And if you love you are of God. All things are atoned for, all things are saved by love. If I, a sinner even as you are, am tender with you and have pity on you, how much more will God have pity upon you. Love is such a priceless treasure that you can redeem the whole world by it, and cleanse not only your own sins but the sins of others.”

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Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love.”

IfsWorldLoveWholeLastsSpiritualSpiritualityAnimalMysteryDivinePlantWhole WorldPerceivePetUnconditional LoveInspirational LoveAnimal LoveComprehendingBrothers KaramazovAbsolute LoveEmbracing Love
Book:The Brothers Karamazov
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“In a morbid condition of the brain, dreams often have a singular actuality, vividness, and extraordinary semblance of reality. At times monstrous images are created, but the setting and the whole picture are so truth-like and filled with details so delicate, so unexpectedly, but so artistically consistent, that the dreamer, were he an artist like Pushkin or Turgenev even, could never have invented them in the waking state. Such sick dreams always remain long in the memory and make a powerful impression on the overwrought and deranged nervous system.”

LifeLongStatesWholeDreamRealityArtistMemoriesPowerfulBrainConditionsSickFilledExtraordinaryDetailsImpressionSettingSettingsNervousConsistentWakingDreamerDelicateMonstrousNervous SystemMorbidActualitySemblanceDerangedWhole PictureVividnessPushkin
Book:Crime and Punishment: Dostoevsky's Collections
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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.”

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Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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“I want peace; yes, I'd sell the whole world for a farthing, straight off, so long as I was left in peace. Is the world to go to pot, or am I to go without my tea? I say that the world may go to pot for me so long as I always get my tea. Did you know that, or not? Well, anyway, I know that I am a blackguard, a scoundrel, an egoist, a sluggard.”

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Book:White Nights and Other Stories
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