Inspirational Quotes by Fyodor Dostoevsky

“she clung to him, she poured out her terrors, her unavailing regrets, and the far echoes turned them all to jeering laughter.”

“I have a longing for life, and I go on living in spite of logic.”

“[The Devil] My best feelings, gratitude, for example, are formally forbidden solely because of my social position.”

“Love one another, Fathers,” said Father Zossima, as far as Alyosha could remember afterwards. “Love God's people. Because we have come here and shut ourselves within these walls, we are no holier than those that are outside, but on the contrary, from the very fact of coming here, each of us has confessed to himself that he is worse than others, than all men on earth.... And the longer the monk lives in his seclusion, the more keenly he must recognize that. Else he would have had no reason to come here. When he realizes that he is not only worse than others, but that he is responsible to all men for all and everything, for all human sins, national and individual, only then the aim of our seclusion is attained. For know, dear ones, that every one of us is undoubtedly responsible for all men and everything on earth, not merely through the general sinfulness of creation, but each one personally for all mankind and every individual man. This knowledge is the crown of life for the monk and for every man. For monks are not a special sort of men, but only what all men ought to be. Only through that knowledge, our heart grows soft with infinite, universal, inexhaustible love. Then every one of you will have the power to win over the whole world by love and to wash away the sins of the world with your tears.... Each of you keep watch over your heart and confess your sins to yourself unceasingly. Be not afraid of your sins, even when perceiving them, if only there be penitence, but make no conditions with God. Again I say, Be not proud. Be proud neither to the little nor to the great. Hate not those who reject you, who insult you, who abuse and slander you. Hate not the atheists, the teachers of evil, the materialists—and I mean not only the good ones—for there are many good ones among them, especially in our day—hate not even the wicked ones. Remember them in your prayers thus: Save, O Lord, all those who have none to pray for them, save too all those who will not pray. And add: it is not in pride that I make this prayer, O Lord, for I am lower than all men.... Love God's people, let not strangers draw away the [pg 178] flock, for if you slumber in your slothfulness and disdainful pride, or worse still, in covetousness, they will come from all sides and draw away your flock. Expound the Gospel to the people unceasingly ... be not extortionate.... Do not love gold and silver, do not hoard them.... Have faith. Cling to the banner and raise it on high.”

“they came to jeer, but remained to whitewash.”

“... if i die what will become of them? ... What will become of them? ... Who would feed it and who would feed them all?”

“Somos assim: sonhamos o voo mas tememos a altura. Para voar é preciso ter coragem para enfrentar o terror do vazio. Porque é só no vazio que o voo acontece. O vazio é o espaço da liberdade, a ausência de certezas. Por isso trocamos o voo por gaiolas. As gaiolas são o lugar onde as certezas moram.”

“Believe to the end, even if all men went astray and you were left the only one faithful; bring your offering even then and praise God in your loneliness. And if two of you are gathered together - then there is a whole world, a world of living love. Embrace each other tenderly and praise God, for if only in you two His truth has been fulfilled.”

“Polly asked him questions that were full of guile, and very deep—for she wanted to trap him into damaging revealments. Like many other simple-hearted souls, it was her pet vanity to believe she was endowed with a talent for dark and mysterious diplomacy, and she loved to contemplate her most transparent devices as marvels of low cunning. Said she: "Tom, it was middling warm in school, warn't it?" "Yes'm." "Powerful warm, warn't it?" "Yes'm." "Didn't you want to go in a-swimming, Tom?" A bit of a scare shot through Tom—a touch of uncomfortable suspicion. He searched Aunt Polly's face, but it told him nothing. So he said: "No'm—well, not very much.”

“Voltaire’s Si Dieu n’existait pas , il faudrait l’inventer (“If God did not exist, he would have to be invented”).”

“-Je pense qu'on doit aimer la vie par-dessus tout. -Aimer la vie, plutôt que le sens de la vie? -Certainement. L'aimer avant de raisonner, sans logique, comme tu dis; alors seulement on en comprendra le sens.”

“He seemed, indeed, to accept everything without the least condemnation though often grieving bitterly.”

“Well, let her—she should see that he could be as indifferent as some other people.”

“Perezvon (the dog) ran about in the wildest spirits, sniffing about first one side, then the other. When he met other dogs they zealously smelt each other over according to the rules of canine etiquette.”

“No doubt it is devastating. One cannot prove anything here, but it is possible to be convinced.” “How? By what?” “By the experience of active love. Try to love your neighbors actively and tirelessly. The more you succeed in loving, the more you’ll be convinced of the existence of God and the immortality of your soul. And if you reach complete selflessness in the love of your neighbor, then undoubtedly you will believe, and no doubt will even be able to enter your soul. This has been tested. It is certain.”

“They say, the sun brings life to the world. The sun will rise and look is it not a corpse? Everything is dead and there are corpses everywhere. Just people and around them silence__that is the world! "Love one another"__who said that? Whose command is that? The pendulum swings unfeelingly, antagonistically. It's two o'clock at night. Her slippers are standing by her bed, as if waiting for her.... No, seriously, when they take her away tomorrow, what shall I do?”

“The old lady pulled her spectacles down and looked over them about the room; then she put them up and looked out under them. She seldom or never looked THROUGH them for so small a thing as a boy; they were her state pair, the pride of her heart, and were built for “style,” not service—she could have seen through a pair of stove-lids just as well. She looked perplexed for a moment, and then said, not fiercely, but still loud enough for the furniture to hear:”

“وإذا هاجتِ الأحزان في قلب امرئٍ وتألّبت المحن، أضحى أحيانًا خسيسًا لا يرى إلا السيئات والنقائص، أما الفضائل فتصبح كالقذى في عينه كلما لمسها في غيره.”

“Sim, é só isso', refletiu Dária Aleksandrovna, ao recordar sua vida naqueles quinze anos de casamento, 'gravidez, enjoo, pensamento embotado, indiferença a tudo e, principalmente, feitura. (...) O parto, o sofrimento, um sofrimento horrendo, aquele último minuto... (...) 'E tudo isso para quê? No que vai dar, tudo isso? Vai dar em que eu, sem ter um só minuto de tranquilidade, ora grávida, ora amamentndo, sempre irritada, rabugenta, um peso para mim mesma e um tormento para os outros, e também repulsiva para o meu marido, vou consumindo a minha vida e criando filhos infelizes, mal-educados e indigentes.”

“Moreover, he felt vaguely that what he called his convictions were not only ignorance but were a way of thinking that made the knowledge he needed impossible.”