Inspirational Quotes by Fyodor Dostoevsky
“The more I love humanity in general, the less I love man in particular. In”
“I am a bug, and I recognise in all humility that I cannot understand why the world is arranged as it is. Men are themselves to blame, I suppose; they were given paradise, they wanted freedom, and stole fire from heaven, though they knew they would become unhappy, so there is no need to pity them. With my pitiful, earthly, Euclidian understanding, all I know is that there is suffering and that there are none guilty; that cause follows effect, simply and directly; that everything flows and finds its level—but that's only Euclidian nonsense, I know that, and I can't consent to live by it! What comfort is it to me that there are none guilty and that cause follows effect simply and directly, and that I know it?—I must have justice, or I will destroy myself. And not justice in some remote infinite time and space, but here on earth, and that I could see myself. I have believed in it. I want to see it, and if I am dead by then, let me rise again, for if it all happens without me, it will be too unfair. Surely I haven't suffered simply that I, my crimes and my sufferings, may manure the soil of the future harmony for somebody else. I want to see with my own eyes the hind lie down with the lion and the victim rise up and embrace his murderer. I want to be there when everyone suddenly understands what it has all been for.”
“Most likely not, but he believed solely because he desired to believe and possibly he fully believed in his secret heart, even when he said: "I do not believe till I see".”
“A ako patnje djece samo popunjavaju onu količinu patnje koja je bila potrebna da se otkupi istina, onda unaprijed tvrdim da sva istina ne vrijedi toga...Ja ne želim harmoniju, ne želim je iz ljubavi prema čovječanstvu. Radije ću ostati sa svojim neosvećenim patnjama. Radije ću ostati na svojoj neosvećenoj patnji i na svom neiskaljenom ogorčenju, makar i ne bio u pravu. Pa i previsoku su cijenu odredili toj harmoniji, nije za naš džep tolika ulaznica. I zato hitam da vratim svoju ulaznicu. Ako sam pošten čovjek, dužan sam je što prije vratiti. To upravo i činim. Nije da ja Boga ne priznajem, Aljoša, nego mu samo najponiznije vraćam ulaznicu.”
topics: philosophy-literature
“At the dawn of my days, when still a little child, I had an older brother who died in his youth, before my eyes, being only seventeen years old. And later, making my way through life, I gradually came to see that this brother was, as it were, a pointer and a destination from above in my fate, for if he had not appeared in my life, if he had not been at all, then never, perhaps, as I think, would I have entered monastic orders and set out upon this precious path. That first appearance was still in my childhood, and now, on the decline of my path, a repetition of him, as it were, appeared before my eyes.”
“He seemed, indeed, to accept everything without the least condemnation though often grieving bitterly.”
“No, if you want to punish him terribly, fearfully, with the most horrible punishment imaginable, but so as to save and restore his soul forever—then overwhelm him with your mercy!”
“Does it matter whether it was a dream or a reality, if the dream made known to me the truth?”
“إننا لا نستطيع أن نحب إنسانا إلا إذا ظل مختفيا عن نظرنا. فمتى لمحنا وجهه تبدد الحب”
“I shut my eyes and ask myself, ‘Would you persevere long on that path? And if the patient whose wounds you are washing did not meet you with gratitude, but worried you with his whims, without valuing or remarking your charitable services, began abusing you and rudely commanding you, and complaining to the superior authorities of you (which often happens when people are in great suffering)—what then? Would you persevere in your love, or not?’ And do you know, I came with horror to the conclusion that, if anything could dissipate my love to humanity, it would be ingratitude. In short, I am a hired servant, I expect my payment at once—that is, praise, and the repayment of love with love. Otherwise I am incapable of loving anyone.”
“Diligence and attention soon gave him the knack of it, and he strode down the street with his mouth full of harmony and his soul full of gratitude.”
“But the greatness of it lies just in the fact that it is a mystery--that the passing earthly show and the eternal verity are brought together in it.”
“He doesn't have so much learning...or any special education either; he's silent, and he grins at you silently--that's how he gets by.”
“old fools is the biggest fools there is. Can't learn an old dog new tricks, as the saying is.”
“So it is that we are unhappy we sense more acutely the unhappiness of others; rather than dispersing, the emotion becomes focused...”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky ,
from Selections Three Novels by Fyodor Dostoyevsky: Three Novels by Fydor Dostoyevsky
topics: white-nights
“He could not admit that he had known the truth then and was now mistaken, because as soon as he began to think calmly about it, the whole thing fell to pieces; nor could he admit that he had been mistaken then, because he cherished his state of soul at that time, and by admitting that it had been due to weakness he would have profaned those moments.”
“She was one of those creatures which seem only not to speak because the mechanism of their mouth does not allow them to.”
“tôi vẫn ngồi, vẫn nhìn, vẫn nghe - và lòng tràn ngập một cảm xúc không biết nên gọi là gì, nhưng trong đó có tất cả: niềm vui, nỗi buồn, linh cảm về tương lai, những khát vọng và sự lo âu về cuộc đời. Nhưng lúc ấy tôi còn chưa hiểu gì và tôi cũng không biết gọi tên tất cả những cảm xúc bề bộn trong lòng tôi là gì, hay cũng chỉ biết gọi tất cả những cái đó bằng một cái tên - Zinaitđa”
“Well, go 'long and play; but mind you get back some time in a week, or I'll tan you.”
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Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky was a Russian writer, essayist and philosopher, perhaps most recognized today for his novels Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov.
Dostoyevsky's literary output explores human psychology in the troubled political, social and spiritual context of 19th-century Russian society. Considered by many as a founder or precursor of 20th-century existentialism, his Notes from Underground (1864), written in the embittered voice of the anonymous "underground man", was called by Walter Kaufmann the "best overture for existentialism ever written."
His tombstone reads "Verily, Verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." from John 12:24, which is also the epigraph of his final novel, The Brothers Karamazov.