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Fyodor Dostoyevsky Quotes

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Famous Fyodor Dostoyevsky Quotes

“I shall humble myself before people and whimper at every word that I am a criminal? Yes, that's it, that's it, that's what they are sending me there for, that's what they want. Look at them running to and fro about the streets, every one of them a scoundrel and a criminal at heart and, worse still, an idiot. But try to get me off and they'd be wild with righteous indignation. Oh, how I hate them all!”

SiberiaUbermensch
Book:Crime and Punishment
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“But man seeks to worship what is established beyond dispute, so that all men would agree at once to worship it. For these pitiful creatures are concerned not only to find what one or the other can worship, but to find community of worship is the chief misery of every man individually and of all humanity from the beginning of time. For the sake of common worship they've slain each other with the sword. They have set up gods and challenged one another, "Put away your gods and come and worship ours, or we will kill you and your gods!”

Religion
Book:The Brothers Karamazov
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“I understand, of course, what an upheaval of the universe it will be when everything in heaven and earth blends in one hymn of praise and everything that lives and has lived cries aloud: 'Thou art just, O Lord, for Thy ways are revealed.' When the mother embraces the fiend who threw her child to the dogs, and all three cry aloud with tears, 'Thou art just, O Lord!' then, of course, the crown of knowledge will be reached and all will be made clear. But what pulls me up here is that I can't accept that harmony.”

Religion
Book:The Brothers Karamazov
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“And if it is a mystery, then we, too, had the right to preach mystery and to teach them that it is not the free choice of the heart that matters, and not love, but the mystery, which they must blindly obey, even setting aside their own conscience. And so we did. We corrected your deed and based it on miracle, mystery, and authority. And mankind rejoiced that they were once more led like sheep, and that at last such a terrible gift, which had brought them so much suffering, had been taken from their hearts.”

ReligionThe Grand Inquisitor
Author:Fyodor Dostoyevsky
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“Artık sevemeyecek bir insan olduktan; sevgiyi manen üstün olmak, zorbalık yapmak olarak kabul ettikten sonra...Evet, ben yaşam boyunca sevginin başka türlüsünü düşünememişimdir; şimdi bile sevginin sevilen tarafından kendi isteğiyle verilen, karşısındakinin ona hükmetme hakkı olduğuna inanıyorum. Yer altı hayallerimde bile sevgiyi yaşama kavgasının dışında düşünemedim. Hayallerimde sevgi nefretle başlayıp manen üstünlüğümle bitmiştir; ama sonunda dize getirdiğim kadını ne yapacağımı bilememiştim. Bunun anlaşılamayacak bir yanı yok.”

Sevgi
Book:Notes from Underground, White Nights, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, and Selections from The House of the Dead
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“Though I may not believe in the order of the universe, yet I love the sticky little leaves as they open in spring. I love the blue sky, I love some people, whom one loves you know sometimes without knowing why. I love some great deeds done by men, though I've long ceased perhaps to have faith in them, yet from old habit one's heart prizes them... I want to travel in Europe, Alyosha; I shall set off from here. And yet I know that I am only going to a graveyard, but it's a most precious graveyard, that's what it is! Precious are the dead that lie there, every stone over them speaks of such burning life in the past, of such passionate faith in their work, their truth, their struggle and their science, that I know I shall fall on the ground and kiss those stones and weep over them; though I'm convinced in my heart that it's long been nothing but a graveyard. And I shall not weep from despair, but simply because I shall be happy in my tears, I shall steep my soul in emotion. I love the sticky leaves in spring, the blue sky--that's all it is. It's not a matter of intellect or logic, it's loving with one's inside, with one's stomach. One loves the first strength of one's youth. Do you understand anything of my tirade, Alyosha?" Ivan laughed suddenly. "I understand too well, Ivan. One longs to love with one's inside, with one's stomach. You said that so well and I am awfully glad that you have such a longing for life," cried Alyosha. "I think everyone should love life above everything in the world." "Love life more than the meaning of it?" "Certainly, love it, regardless of logic as you say, it must be regardless of logic, and it's only then one will understand the meaning of it. I have thought so a long time. Half your work is done, Ivan, you love life, now you've only to try to do the second half and you are saved.”

IvanKaramazovAloysha
Book:The Brothers Karamazov
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“By the way, a Bulgarian I met lately in Moscow," Ivan went on, seeming not to hear his brother's words, "told me about the crimes committed by Turks and Circassians in all parts of Bulgaria through fear of a general rising of the Slavs. They burn villages, murder, outrage women and children, they nail their prisoners by the ears to the fences, leave them so till morning, and in the morning they hang them- all sorts of things you can't imagine. People talk sometimes of 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. These Turks took a pleasure in torturing children, -too; cutting the unborn child from the mothers womb, and tossing babies up in the air and catching them on the points of their bayonets before their mothers' eyes. Doing it before the mothers' eyes was what gave zest to the amusement. Here is another scene that I thought very interesting. Imagine a trembling mother with her baby in her arms, a circle of invading Turks around her. They've planned a diversion: they pet the baby, laugh to make it laugh. They succeed, the baby laughs. At that moment a Turk points a pistol four inches from the baby's face. The baby laughs with glee, holds out its little hands to the pistol, and he pulls the trigger in the baby's face and blows out its brains. Artistic, wasn't it? By the way, Turks are particularly fond of sweet things, they say.”

AtheismCrueltyIvanKaramazov
Book:The Brothers Karamazov
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“But I've still better things about children. I've collected a great, great deal about Russian children, Alyosha. There was a little girl of five who was hated by her father and mother, 'most worthy and respectable people, of good education and breeding.' You see, I must repeat again, it is a peculiar characteristic of many people, this love of torturing children, and children only. To all other types of humanity these torturers behave mildly and benevolently, like cultivated and humane Europeans; but they are very fond of tormenting children, even fond of children themselves in that sense. it's just their defencelessness that tempts the tormentor, just the angelic confidence of the child who has no refuge and no appeal, that sets his vile blood on fire. In every man, of course, a demon lies hidden- the demon of rage, the demon of lustful heat at the screams of the tortured victim, the demon of lawlessness let off the chain, the demon of diseases that follow on vice, gout, kidney disease, and so on. "This poor child of five was subjected to every possible torture by those cultivated parents. They beat her, thrashed her, kicked her for no reason till her body was one bruise. Then, they went to greater refinements of cruelty- shut her up all night in the cold and frost in a privy, and because she didn't ask to be taken up at night (as though a child of five sleeping its angelic, sound sleep could be trained to wake and ask), they smeared her face and filled her mouth with excrement, and it was her mother, her mother did this. And that mother could sleep, hearing the poor child's groans! Can you understand why a little creature, who can't even understand what's done to her, should beat her little aching heart with her tiny fist in the dark and the cold, and weep her meek unresentful tears to dear, kind God to protect her? Do you understand that, friend and brother, you pious and humble novice? Do you understand why this infamy must be and is permitted? Without it, I am told, man could not have existed on earth, for he could not have known good and evil. Why should he know that diabolical good and evil when it costs so much? Why, the whole world of knowledge is not worth that child's prayer to dear, kind God'! I say nothing of the sufferings of grown-up people, they have eaten the apple, damn them, and the devil take them all! But these little ones! I am making you suffer, Alyosha, you are not yourself. I'll leave off if you like”

AtheismCrueltyIvanKaramazov
Book:The Brothers Karamazov
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“Our historical pastime is the direct satisfaction of inflicting pain. There are lines in Nekrassov describing how a peasant lashes a horse on the eyes, 'on its meek eyes,' everyone must have seen it. It's peculiarly Russian. He describes how a feeble little nag has foundered under too heavy a load and cannot move. The peasant beats it, beats it savagely, beats it at last not knowing what he is doing in the intoxication of cruelty, thrashes it mercilessly over and over again. 'However weak you are, you must pull, if you die for it.' The nag strains, and then he begins lashing the poor defenceless creature on its weeping, on its 'meek eyes.' The frantic beast tugs and draws the load, trembling all over, gasping for breath, moving sideways, with a sort of unnatural spasmodic action- it's awful in Nekrassov. But that only a horse, and God has horses to be beaten.”

AtheismCrueltyIvanKaramazov
Book:The Brothers Karamazov
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“For what is it you and I are trying to do now? What I'm trying to do is to attempt to explain to you as quickly as possible the most important thing about me, that is to say, what sort of man I am, what I believe in what I hope for - that's it isn't it? And that's why I declare that I accept God plainly and simply. But there's this that has to be said: if God really exists and if he really has created the world, then, as we all know, he created it in accordance with the Euclidean geometry, and he created the human mind with the conception of only the three dimensions of space. And yet there have been and there still are mathematicians and philosophers, some of them indeed men of extraordinary genius, who doubt whether the whole universe, or, to put it more wildly, all existence was created only according to Euclidean geometry and they even dare to dream that two parallel lines which, according to Euclid can never meet on earth, may meet somewhere in infinity. I, my dear chap, have come to the conclusion that if I can't understand even that, then how can I be expected to understand about God? I humbly admit that I have no abilities for settling such questions. And I advise you too, Aloysha, my friend, never to think about it, and least of all about whether there is a God or not. All these problems which are entirely unsuitable to a mind created with the idea of only three dimensions. And so I accept God, and I accept him not only without reluctance, but what's more, I accept his divine wisdom and his purpose- which are completely beyond our comprehension.”

IvanAloysha
Author:Fyodor Dostoyevsky
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“And He will judge and will forgive all, the good and the evil, the wise and the meek . . . And when He has done with all of them, then He will summon us. ‘You too come forth,’ He will say, ‘Come forth ye drunkards, come forth, ye weak ones, come forth, ye children of shame!’ And we shall all come forth, without shame and shall stand before him. And He will say unto us, ‘Ye are swine, made in the Image of the Beast and with his mark; but come ye also!’ And the wise ones and those of understanding will say, ‘Oh Lord, why dost Thou receive these men?’ And He will say, ‘This is why I receive them, oh ye wise, this is why I receive them, oh ye of understanding, that not one of them believed himself to be worthy of this.’ And He will hold out His hands to us and we shall fall down before him . . . and we shall weep . . . and we shall understand all things! Then we shall understand everything! . . . and all will understand”

UnderstandingForgivenessJudgementGood And EvilSermonThe Beast
Book:Crime and Punishment
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“It's like this,' began the elder. 'All these sentences of hard labour in Siberian prisons, and formerly with flogging, too, do not reform anyone and, what's more, scarcely deter even one criminal, and, far from diminishing, the number of crimes are steadily increasing. You have to admit that. It therefore follows that society is not in the least protected, for though a harmful member is cut off automatically and exiled to some remote spot just to get rid of him, another criminal takes his place at once, and often, two, perhaps. If anything does protect society even today and indeed reforms the criminal himself and brings about his regeneration, it is, again, only the law of Christ, which reveals itself in the awareness of one's own consciousness. Only by recognizing his own guilt as a son of a Christian society, that is, of the Church, does the criminal recognize his guilt towards society itself, that is, towards the Church. The criminal today, therefore, is capable of recognizing his guilt only towards the Church, and not towards the State.”

ChurchStateElderThe Brothers KaramazovMiusov
Book:The Brothers Karamazov
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“O da bütün bunları çok iyi biliyordu; benim için erişilmez oluşundan, ona dair tüm hayallerimin imkansızlığı düşüncesinden de muazzam bir keyif aldığına kalıbımı basarım; aksi takdirde onun gibi temkinli ve akıllı bir kadın bana karşı bu kadar samimi, açık davranır mıydı? Sanırım bu zamana dek bana bir antikçağ imparatoriçesinin yanında soyunabileceği, insan yerine koymadığı kölesi gibi davrandı. Evet, pek çok kez beni insan yerine bile koymadı.”

DostoyevskiThe GamblerKumarbaz
Book:Kumarbaz
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“There have been and still are geometricians and philosophers, and even some of the most distinguished, who doubt whether the whole universe, or to speak more widely the whole of existence, was only created in Euclid's geometry; they even dare to dream that two parallel lines, which according to Euclid can never meet on earth, may meet somewhere in infinity. I have come to the conclusion that, since I can't understand even that, I can't expect to understand about God. I acknowledge humbly that I have no faculty for settling such questions, I have a Euclidean earthly mind, and how could I solve problems that are not of this world? And I advise you never to think about it either, my dear Alyosha, especially about God, whether He exists or not. All such questions are utterly inappropriate for a mind created with an idea of only three dimensions.”

GodEuclidean GeometryThe Limitedness Of Human Mind
Book:The Brothers Karamazov
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“There's something here, my dear boy, that you don't understand yet. A man will fall in love with some beauty, with a woman's body, or even a part of a woman's body (a sensualist can understand that) and he'll abandon his own children for her, sell his father and mother, and his country, Russia, too. If he's honest, he'll steal; if he's humane, he'll murder; if he's faithful, he'll deceive.”

LustTimeless Truth
Book:The Brothers Karamazov
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“Il delinquente era una persona intelligente, coraggiosa, forte, d'età matura, si chiamava Legros. Ebbene, vi dico, che lo crediate o no, che mentre saliva al patibolo piangeva. È mai possibile, dico io? Non è un orrore? Via, chi può piangere di spavento? Che cosa succede all'anima in quei momenti? Fino a quali tormenti può essere spinta? È un oltraggio all'anima, niente altro che questo! È detto: "non uccidere", e allora, perché uno ha ucciso bisogna uccidere anche lui? No, non è lecito..... ....Il dolore essenziale, quello più forte, non è quello delle ferite, è il sapere con certezza che fra un'ora, poi fra dieci minuti, poi fra mezzo minuto, poi adesso, ecco, proprio ora, l'anima vola via dal corpo, e tu come persona non esisterai più, e questo ormai con certezza. La cosa più importante, ecco, è questa certezza. Io ci credo a tal punto, che vi dirò schiettamente la mia opinione. Uccidere per un'uccisione è una punizione incomparabilmente più grande dello stesso delitto. L'omicidio su sentenza è incomparabilmente più orribile dell'omicidio del delinquente. Voi potete mettere un soldato davanti a un cannone in combattimento, e sparargli addosso, e lui continuerà a sperare, ma leggete a questo stesso soldato una sentenza che lo condanna con certezza, e lui impazzirà o si metterà a piangere. Chi ha detto che la natura umana è capace di sopportare questo senza impazzire? No, non si può agire così con un uomo! "il principe Myskin sulla pena di morte”

Pena Di Morte
Book:The Idiot
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“É possível que o homem não ame senão o bem-estar. Não é possível que ele ame na mesma medida o sofrimento? Não é possível que o sofrimento lhe seja tão vantajoso quanto o o bem-estar? O homem põe-se por vezes a amar apaixonadamente o sofrimento; isso é um fato.”

FelicidadeSofrimentoBem Estar
Book:Notes from Underground, White Nights, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, and Selections from The House of the Dead
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“O sofrimento! Mas é a causa única da consciência! Eu vos declarei, é verdade, no início, que, a consciência, na minha opinião, é um dos maiores males do homem; mas sei que o homem a ama e não a trocará por nenhuma satisfação, seja qual for.”

ConsciênciaSofrimentoSatisfação
Book:Notes from Underground, White Nights, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, and Selections from The House of the Dead
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“Schátov asegura que si en Rusia hay alguna vez revolución, ha de empezarse de manera irremisible por el ateísmo. Puede que tenga razón. Había allí un capitán con la barbita canosa, que estaba muy callado y no decía palabra; pero de pronto fue y se plantó en mitad de la habitación y, mire usted, en voz alta, cual si hablase consigo mismo: "Si no hay Dios, ¿qué capitán soy yo?". Cogió el gorro, abrió los brazos y se fue.”

RevoluciónAteísmo
Book:Demons
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“What is to be done with millions of facts that bear witness that men, CONSCIOUSLY, that is fully understanding their real interests, have left them in the background and have rushed headlong on another path, to meet peril and danger, compelled to this course by nobody and nothing, but, as it were, simply disliking the beaten track, and have obstinately, willfully, struck out another difficult absurd way, seeking it almost in the darkness.”

Trump Popularity Explained
Book:Notes from Underground
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“Messieurs, m’écriai-je de tout cœur, regardez les œuvres de Dieu : le ciel est clair, l’air pur, l’herbe tendre, les oiseaux chantent dans la nature magnifique et innocente ; seuls, nous autres, impies et stupides ne comprenons pas que la vie est un paradis, nous n’aurions qu’à vouloir le comprendre pour le voir apparaître dans toute sa beauté, et nous nous étreindrions alors en pleurant… »”

DieuLa Beauté
Book:The Brothers Karamazov
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