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Crime and Punishment

Book by Fyodor Dostoyevsky · 50 quotes · Crime And Punishment, Men, Life

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Crime and Punishment Quotes

“Apparitions are, so to speak, shreds and fragments of other worlds, the first beginnings of them. There is, of course, no reason why a healthy man should see them, because a healthy man is mainly a being of this earth, and therefore for completeness and order he must live only this earthly life. But as soon as he falls ill, as soon as the normal earthly state of the organism is disturbed, the possibility of another world begins to appear, and as the illness increases, so do the contacts with the other world, so that at the moment of a man's death he enters fully into that world.”

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Book:Crime and Punishment
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“He stood and stared into the distance for a long while; he knew this spot particularly well. While attending university it often happened — a hundred times, perhaps, usually on his way home — that he would pause at precisely this spot, look intently at this truly magnificent panorama and every time be almost amazed by the obscure, irresolvable impression it made on him. An inexplicable chill came over him as he gazed at this magnificence; this gorgeous scene was filled for him by some dumb, deaf spirit... He marvelled every time at this sombre, mysterious impression and, distrusting himself, put off any attempt to explain it. Now, all of a sudden, those old questions of his, that old bewilderment, came back to him sharply, and it was no accident, he felt, that they'd come back now. The simple fact that he'd stopped at the very same spot as before seemed outlandish and bizarre, as if he really had imagined that now he could think the same old thoughts as before, take an interest in the same old subjects and scenes that had interested him... such a short while ago. He almost found it funny, yet his chest felt so tight it hurt. In the depths, down below, somewhere just visible beneath his feet, this old past appeared to him in its entirety, those old thoughts, old problems, old subjects, old impressions, and this whole panorama, and he himself, and everything, everything... It was as if he were flying off somewhere, higher and higher, and everything was vanishing before his eyes... Making an involuntary movement with his hand, he suddenly sensed the twenty-copeck piece in his fist. He unclenched his hand, stared hard at the coin, drew back his arm and hurled the coin into the water; then he turned round and set off home. It felt as if he'd taken a pair of scissors and cut himself off from everyone and everything, there and then.”

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Book:Crime and Punishment
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“A! E alta forma, o forma care, din punct de vedere estetic, nu este prea frumoasa! N-am sa inteleg niciodata de ce a arunca in oameni cu bombe, a-i omori in asediu reglementar este o forma mai respectabila? Teama de estetica este primul indiciu al neputintei!... Niciodata, niciodata n-am simtit-o mai bine ca acum, si inteleg mai putin ca oricand care este crima mea! Niciodata, niciodata n-am fost mai puternic si mai convins ca acum! [...] Ar fi interesant de stiut daca in cei 15-20 de ani care vor urma sufletul meu se va potoli intr-atat incat sa scancesc smerit in fata oamenilor, numindu-ma, cand trebuie si cand nu trebuie, talhar? Da, da, intocmai! Pentru asta ma trimit ei la ocna, de asta au ei nevoie... Uite-i cum misuna pe strada incolo si incoace, si fiecare din ei este din firea lui un ticalos si un talhar; mai rau inca: este un idiot! Dar sa incerce numai sa nu ma trimita la ocna si ei toti au sa turbeze de nobila indignare! O, cat ii urasc pe toti! Care este procesul care il va face pe el sa se supuna tuturora, fara sa mai stea sa judece, sa se supuna convins ca asa trebuie sa fie? De ce nu? Fireste, asa trebuie sa se intample! Oare 20 de ani de apasare necontenita nu-l vor frange definitiv? Apa sapa pietrele. Pentru ce, pentru ce atunci sa mai traiesc, pentru ce ma duc, daca stiu ca toate se vor intampla intocmai ca in carte si nu altfel?!" De ieri isi punea poate pentru a suta oara aceasta intrebare si totusi mergea inainte.”

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“But now, strange as it seems, a peasant's small, scrawny. light brown nag is harnessed to such a large cart, one of those horses he's seen it often that sometimes strain to pull some huge load of firewood or hay. Especially if the cart has gotten stuck in the mud or a rut. The peasants always whip the horse so terribly, so very painfully, sometimes even across its muzzle and eyes, and he would always feel so sorry, so very sorry to witness it that he would feel like crying, and his mother would always lead him away from the window. Now things are getting extremely boisterous: some very large and extremely drunken peasants in red and blue shirts, their heavy coats slung over their shoulders. come out of the tavern shouting, singing. and playing balalaikas. “Git in. everyone git in!" shouts one peasant, a young lad with a thick neck and a fleshy face, red as a beet, “I'll take ya all. Git in!" But there is a burst of laughter and shouting: “That ol’ nag ain't good for nothin'!" “Hey, Mikolka, you must be outta yer head to hitch that ol' mare to yer cart!" “That poor ol' horse must be twenty if she's a day, lads!" “Git in, I'll take ya all!" Mikolka shouts again,jumping in first, taking hold of the reins, and standing up straight in the front of the cart. “Matvei went off with the bay," he cries from the cart, “and as for this ol' mare here, lads, she's only breakin' my heart: I don't give a damn ifit kills ’er; she ain't worth her salt. Git in, I tell ya! I'll make 'er gallop! She’ll gallop, all right!" And he takes the whip in his hand, getting ready to thrash the horse with delight. "What the hell, git in!" laugh several people in the crowd. "You heard 'im, she'll gallop!" “I bet she ain't galloped in ten years!" "She will now!" “Don't pity 'er, lads; everyone, bring yer whips, git ready!" "That's it! Thrash 'er!" They all clamber into Mikolka's cart with guffaws and wisecracks. There are six lads and room for more. They take along a peasant woman, fat and ruddy. She's wearing red calico, a headdress trimmed with beads, and fur slippers; she‘s cracking nuts and cackling. The crowd’s also laughing; as a matter of fact, how could one keep from laughing at the idea of a broken down old mare about to gallop, trying to pull such a heavy load! Two lads in the cart grab their whips to help Mikolka. The shout rings out: “Pull!" The mare strains with all her might, but not only can’t she gallop, she can barely take a step forward; she merely scrapes her hooves, grunts, and cowers from the blows of the three whips raining down on her like hail. Laughter redoubles in the cart and among the crowd, but Mikolka grows angry and in his rage strikes the little mare with more blows, as if he really thinks she’ll be able to gallop. “Take me along, too, lads!" shouts someone from the crowd who’s gotten a taste of the fun. “Git in! Everyone, git inl" cries Mikolka. “She'll take everyone. I‘ll flog 'er!" And he whips her and whips her again; in his frenzy, he no longer knows what he’s doing. “Papa, papa," the boy cries to his father. “Papa, what are they doing? Papa, they‘re beating the poor horse!" “Let's go, let's go!" his father says. “They’re drunk, misbehaving, those fools: let’s go. Don't look!" He tries to lead his son away. but the boy breaks from his father‘s arms; beside himself, he runs toward the horse. But the poor horse is on her last legs. Gasping for breath, she stops, and then tries to pull again, about to drop. “Beat 'er to death!" cries Mikolka. ”That's what it's come to. I‘ll flog ‘er!" “Aren't you a Christian. you devil?" shouts one old man from the crowd. “Just imagine, asking an ol' horse like that to pull such a heavy load,” adds another. “You‘ll do 'er in!" shouts a third. “Leave me alone! She’s mine! I can do what I want with 'er! Git in, all of ya! Everyone git in I'm gonna make 'er gallop!”

DreamViolenceAbuseHorseCrueltyAnimalsHumans And AnimalsMareDostoyevsky
Book:Crime and Punishment
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“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!”

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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”

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“Till the last moment they dress a man up in peacock's feathers, till the last moment they hope for the good and not the bad; and though they may have premonitions of the other side of the coin, for the life of them they will not utter a real word beforehand; the thought alone makes them cringe; they wave the truth away with both hands, till the very moment when the man they've decked out so finely sticks their noses in it with his own two hands.”

Pg 42
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“A eternidade sempre nos parece uma ideia que não se pode entender, algo enorme, enorme! Mas por que forçosamente enorme? E de repente, em vez de tudo isso, imagine só, lá existe um único quarto, alguma coisa assim como o quarto de banhos da aldeia, enegrecido pela fuligem, com aranhas espalhadas por todos os cantos, e toda a eternidade se resume a isso. Sabe, às vezes me parece que vejo coisas desse tipo. (Svidrigáilov)”

Fiodor DostoyevskiCrime E CastigoSvidrigáilov
Book:Crime and Punishment
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“No, it is not a commonplace, sir! If up to now, for example, I have been told to 'love my neighbor,' and I did love him, what came of it?. . . What came of it was that I tore my caftan in two, shared it with my neighbor, and we were both left half naked, in accordance with the Russian proverb which says: If you chase several hares at once, you won't overtake any one of them. But science says: Love yourself before all, because everything in the world is based on self-interest. If you love only yourself, you will set your affairs up properly, and your caftan will also remain in one piece. And economic truth adds that the more properly arranged personal affairs and, so to speak, whole caftans there are in society, the firmer its foundations are and the better arranged its common cause. It follows that by acquiring for everyone, as it were, and working so that my neighbor will have something more than a torn caftan, not from private, isolated generosities now, but as a result of universal prosperity.”

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“«Il senso pratico lo si acquista a fatica, non casca giù dal cielo. E noi, invece, son quasi duecento anni che ci hanno disabituati dallo svolgere qualsiasi attività pratica... Magari c'è fermento di idee,» disse rivolto a Petr Petròviè, «c'è desiderio di bene, anche se in forma infantile; e c'è perfino della gente onesta, nonostante l'enorme numero di imbroglioni piovuti qui da tutte le parti; ma il senso pratico, malgrado tutto, non lo si vede! Il senso pratico non è roba di tutti i giorni.» «Non sono d'accordo con voi,» ribatté Pëtr Petròviè, visibilmente compiaciuto. «Certo, esistono delle infatuazioni, delle irregolarità, ma bisogna anche essere indulgenti: le infatuazioni testimoniano della passione per la causa, e dell'ambiente esterno sbagliato con cui la causa deve fare i conti. Se poi è stato fatto poco, bisogna anche tener presente che c'è stato poco tempo. Non starò a parlare dei mezzi. Inoltre, secondo il mio punto di vista personale, se vi interessa conoscerlo, qualcosa è stato fatto: si sono diffuse idee nuove utili, e nuovi e utili libri che hanno preso il posto di quelli di prima, che avevano carattere fantastico e romantico; la letteratura va acquistando un carattere più maturo; molti pregiudizi dannosi sono stati sradicati e messi alla berlina... In una parola, ci siamo irrevocabilmente staccati dal passato, e questo, secondo me, è già un lavoro serio...»”

Delitto E CastigoDostoevskijInfatuazioni
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“Se, ad esempio, fino ad oggi mi dicevano: ‹ama gli altri› e io li amavo, che cosa ne veniva fuori?» riprese a dire Pëtr Petròviè, forse un po' troppo frettolosamente. «Ne veniva fuori che stracciavo il mio caffettano a metà, lo dividevo con il mio prossimo, e ambedue rimanevamo seminudi, secondo il proverbio russo: ‹Se corri dietro a troppe lepri, non ne acchiappi nemmeno una›. La scienza invece dice: ama innanzitutto te stesso, poiché a questo mondo tutto è basato sull'interesse personale. Se amerai te stesso, farai bene i tuoi affari e il tuo caffettano rimarrà intero. La verità economica, poi, aggiunge che più ci sono, in seno alla società, iniziative private organizzate e, per così dire, caffettani interi, tanto più numerosi sono i saldi puntelli su cui essa si regge, e tanto meglio vi si sviluppa anche la causa comune. Di conseguenza, nell'acquistare unicamente ed esclusivamente per me, con ciò stesso è come se acquistassi per tutti, e così il mio prossimo riceve qualcosa di più di un caffettano lacero; e non da singole elargizioni di privati, ma per effetto della generale prosperità. È un'idea semplice, ma disgraziatamente per troppo tempo non è venuta in mente a nessuno, offuscata dagli entusiasmi e dalle fantasticherie, mentre non ci vuol poi molto acume, sembrerebbe, per capire...»”

Self LoveEconomiaEgoismoDelitto E CastigoDostoevskijAmare Se Stessi
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