Inspirational Quotes by Fyodor Dostoevsky

“Semyonovna's frantic,”

“Dans la suite de mon article, j’insiste, je m’en souviens, sur cette idée que tous les législateurs et les guides de l’humanité, en commençant par les plus anciens, pour continuer par Lycurgue, Solon, Mahomet, Napoléon, etc., que tous, sans exception, ont été des criminels, car en donnant de nouvelles lois, ils ont par cela même violé les anciennes, observées fidèlement par la société et transmises par les ancêtres; certainement ils ne reculaient pas non plus devant l’effusion du sang, dès qu’elle pouvait leur être utile.   Il est même à remarquer que presque tous”

“Il m’est venu un jour à l’idée que si l’on voulait réduire un homme à néant, le punir atrocement, l’écraser tellement que le meurtrier le plus endurci tremblerait lui-même devant ce châtiment et s’effrayerait d’avance, il suffirait de donner à son travail un caractère de complète inutilité, voire même d’absurdité.”

“C’est en ce sens que mon article leur reconnaît le droit au crime. (Vous vous rappelez que notre point de départ a été une question juridique.) D’ailleurs, il n’y a pas lieu de s’inquiéter beaucoup: presque jamais la masse ne leur concède ce droit, elle les décapite et les pend (plus ou moins), et par là elle remplit très-justement sa mission conservatrice jusqu’au jour, il est vrai, ou cette même masse érige des statues aux suppliciés et les vénère (plus ou moins). Le”

“Ces incapables exécuteurs de la loi ne comprennent nullement qu’appliquer la loi sans en comprendre l’esprit, mène tout droit aux désordres. — «La loi le dit, que voulez-vous de plus?» Ils s’étonnent même sincèrement qu’on exige d’eux, outre l’exécution de la loi, du bon sens et une tête saine. La dernière condition surtout leur parait superflue, elle est pour eux d’un luxe révoltant, cela leur semble une vexation, de l’intolérance.”

“«Les instincts d’un bourreau existent en germe dans chacun de nos contemporains.»”

“Ensuite j’ai reconnu, Sonia, que si l’on attendait le moment où tout le monde sera intelligent, on devrait s’armer d’une trop longue patience. Plus tard encore je me suis convaincu que ce moment même n’arriverait jamais, que les hommes ne changeraient pas et qu’on perdait son temps à essayer de les modifier! Oui, c’est ainsi! C’est leur loi… Je sais maintenant, Sonia, que le maître chez eux est celui qui possède une intelligence puissante. Qui ose beaucoup a raison à leurs yeux. Qui les brave et les méprise s’impose à leur respect! C’est ce qui s’est toujours vu et se verra toujours! Il faudrait être aveugle pour ne pas s’en apercevoir!”

“Moreover, I felt weak and in the right mood, and besides, shamming so easily coexists with sincere feeling.”

“The emptier a man's head is, for instance, the less he fells the thirst to fill it.”

“A husband ought to live at home, and not in a crocodile...”

“Yes, she's rather good-looking; I think she's good-looking. After all, she drives other men out of their mind. She's tall and svelte. Only she's very thin. I think you could tie her in a knot or bend her double.”

“Di me le dirò che sono figlio del mio secolo, figlio della miscredenza e del dubbio, e non solo fino ad oggi, ma tale resterò (lo so con certezza) fino alla tomba. Quali terribili sofferenze mi è costata – e mi costa tuttora – questa sete di credere, che tanto più fortemente si fa sentire nella mia anima quando più forti mi appaiono gli argomenti ad essa contrari! Ciononostante Iddio mi manda talora degl’istanti in cui mi sento perfettamente sereno; in quegli istanti io scopro di amare e di essere amato dagli altri, e appunto in quegl’istanti io ho concepito un simbolo della fede, un Credo, in cui tutto per me è chiaro e santo. Questo Credo è molto semplice, e suona così: credere che non c’è nulla di più bello, di più profondo, più simpatico, più ragionevole, più virile e più perfetto di Cristo; anzi non soltanto non c’è, ma addirittura, con geloso amore, mi dico che non ci può essere. Non solo, ma arrivo a dire che se qualcuno mi dimostrasse che Cristo è fuori dalla verità e se fosse effettivamente vero che la verità non è in Cristo, ebbene io preferirei restare con Cristo piuttosto che con la verità.”

“Sé extremadamente sutil, discreto, hasta el punto de no tener forma. Sé completamente misterioso y confidencial, hasta el punto de ser silencioso.”

“Afterward I could not help admiring the discrimination of the host and hostess in the distribution of the children’s presents. The little girl, who had already a portion of three hundred thousand rubles, received the costliest doll. Then followed presents diminishing in value in accordance with the rank of the parents of these happy children; finally, the child of lowest degree, a thin, freckled, red-haired little boy of ten, got nothing but a book of stories about the marvels of nature and tears of devotion, etc., without pictures or even woodcuts. He was the son of a poor widow, the governess of the children of the house, an oppressed and scared little boy. He was dressed in a short jacket of inferior nankeen. After receiving his book he walked around the other toys for a long time; he longed to play with the other children, but did not dare; it was evident that he already felt and understood his position. I”

“Это наше русское равнодушие, - не чувствовать обязанностей, которые налагают на нас наши права, и потому отрицать эти обязанности.”

“A waltz, Anna Arkadyevna?" "I don't dance when it's possible not to dance," she said.”

“Reasoning had brought him to doubt, and prevented him from seeing what he ought to do and what he ought not. When he did not think, but simply lived, he was continually aware of the presence of an infallible judge in his soul, determining which of two possible courses of action was the better and which was the worse, and as soon as he did not act rightly, he was at once aware of it.”

“Tutto quello che si mostrava così chiaramente a Kitty nello specchio del volto di Anna, ella lo vide in lui. [...] egli ora, ogni volta che si rivolgeva a lei, piegava un po' il capo, come desiderando di caderle davanti, e nello sguardo aveva la sua espressione dell docilità e del timore.”

“to him, knowing that every joy, every pleasure and pain that she felt she communicated to him at once; to him, now to see that she did not care to notice his state of mind, that she did not care to say a word about herself, meant a great deal.”

“Suffering, steadily increasing, did its part in preparing him for death.”