Inspirational Quotes by Fyodor Dostoevsky

“Not long ago I read the criticism made by a German who had lived in Russia, on our students and schoolboys of to-day. 'Show a Russian schoolboy,' he writes, 'a map of the stars, which he knows nothing about, and he will give you back the map next day with corrections on it.' No knowledge and unbounded conceit- that's what the German meant to say about the Russian schoolboy.”

“To what should one adhere, if not to one’s family?”

“Pişman olmak için asla geç değildir.”

“ROSTROS He visto un rostro con mil semblantes, y un rostro que tenía sólo un semblante, como si estuviera contenido en un molde inmutable. He visto un rostro cuyo brillo podía ver a través de la fealdad que lo cubría, y un rostro cuyo brillo tuve que apartar, para ver cuán hermoso era. He visto un viejo rostro lleno de arrugas de la nada, y un rostro lozano en el que estaban grabadas todas las cosas. Conozco todos los rostros, porque los veo a través de la urdimbre que mis ojos van tejiendo, y miro la realidad que está detrás del tejido.”

“My dear Mina, why are men so noble when we women are so little worthy of them? Here was I almost making fun of this great hearted, true gentleman. I burst into tears, I am afraid, my dear, you will think this a very sloppy letter in more ways than one, and I really felt very badly. Why can’t they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her, and save all this trouble?”

“La negra serpiente del amor propio herido no había cesado de roerle el corazón en toda la noche.”

“Las mujeres son el principal obstáculo en la carrera de un hombre. Es difícil amar a una mujer y hacer algo de valía. Sólo existe un medio de que el amor no se convierta en una traba: el matrimonio.”

“Ahelyett, hogy birtokba vetted volna az emberek szabadságát, még nagyobbra növelted! Vagy elfelejtetted, hogy az ember a nyugalmat, sőt akár a halált is többre becsüli, mint a szabad választást a jó és a gonosz megismerésében? Nincsen csábítóbb az ember számára, mint lelkiismeretének szabadsága, de nincs gyötrelmesebb sem.”

“Nada hay en el mundo más difícil de mantener que la franqueza ni nada más cómodo que la adulación. Si en la franqueza se desliza la menor nota falsa, se produce inmediatamente una disonancia y, con ella, el escándalo. En cambio, la adulación, a pesar de su falsedad, resulta siempre agradable y es recibida con placer, un placer vulgar si usted quiere, pero que no deja ser real. Además, la lisonja, por burda que sea nos hace creer siempre que encierra una parte de verdad. Esto es así para todas las esferas sociales y todos los grados de cultura. Incluso la más pura vestal es sensible a la adulación. De la gente vulgar no hablemos.”

“(La felicità) Un giorno o l’altro è possibile incontrarla [...] un giorno, all’improvviso, quando oramai non si sperava più. Allora si intravedono orizzonti, è come se una voce gridasse: ‘Eccola!’ E tu senti il bisogno di confidare a una persona tutti i segreti della tua vita, di darle tutto, di sacrificarle tutto! Non è necessario spiegarsi, ci si intuisce. E come se ci fossimo già visti nei nostri sogni. [...] E finalmente eccolo là, il tesoro che hai cercato tanto a lungo, eccolo là, davanti a te; brilla, scintilla. Tuttavia si continua a dubitare, non si osa ancora crederci; si resta abbagliati come chi esce dalle tenebre alla luce.”

“futuro millonario de imaginación,”

“Folks is all queer nowadays,' said the peasant-woman.”

“La razón es esclava de la pasión, y era yo el primer perjudicado por ella...”

“Levin had often noticed in discussions between the most intelligent people that after enormous efforts, and an enormous expenditure of logical subtleties and words, the disputants finally arrived at being aware that what they had so long been struggling to prove to one another had long ago, from the beginning of the argument, been known to both, but that they liked different things, and would not define what they liked for fear of its being attacked. He had often had the experience of suddenly in a discussion grasping what it was his opponent liked and at once liking it too, and immediately he found himself agreeing, and then all arguments fell away as useless. Sometimes, too, he had experienced the opposite, expressing at last what he liked himself, which he was devising arguments to defend, and, chancing to express it well and genuinely, he had found his opponent at once agreeing and ceasing to dispute his position.”

“antediluvian”

“в России пьяные люди у нас самые добрые. Самые добрые люди у нас и самые пьяные.”

“Para el realista no es la fe lo que nace del milagro, sino el milagro el que nace de la fe.”

“avec un long frémissement et se cachant la figure, elle s’abandonna.”

“But only one who can appease their conscience can take over their freedom.”

“Stop, stop! You queer fish!”