The 50 Deep Thoughts Quotes by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky (born November 11, 1821, Moscow, Russia – died February 9, 1881, St. Petersburg, Russia), often transliterated and uttered as Dostoevsky, was a famous Russian novelist and short story writer often acknowledged by critics as one of the most prominent psychologists in world literature.
His works explore human psychology in the troubled political and social atmosphere. Dostoyevsky’s works of fiction include two translations, 15 novels and novellas, and 17 short stories. The most important are Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1869), Demons (1872), and The Brothers Karamazov (1880). His novella Notes from Underground (1864), named the “best overture for existentialism ever written” by Walter Kaufmann, is considered one of the first works of existentialist literature.
Dostoyevsky influenced many great writers and philosophers, such as Anton Chekhov, Ernest Hemingway, and Friedrich Nietzsche.
Destroy my desires, wipe out my ideals, show me something better, and I will follow you.Part I, Chapter X, Notes From Underground (1864)
Lying is a delightful thing for it leads to the truth.Part II, Chapter IV, Crime and Punishment (1866)
Civilisation has made mankind if not more bloodthirsty, at least more vilely, more loathsomely bloodthirsty.Part I, Chapter VII, Notes From Underground (1864)
The best definition of man is: a being that walks on two legs and is ungrateful.Part I, Chapter VIII, Notes From Underground (1864)
If they drive God from the earth, we shall shelter Him underground.Part IV, Book XI. Ivan, Chapter IV. A Hymn and a Secret, The Brothers Karamazov (1880)
The more I love humanity in general, the less I love man in particular.Part I, Book II. An Unfortunate Gathering, Chapter IV. A Lady of Little Faith, The Brothers Karamazov (1880)
What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love.Part II, Book VI. The Russian Monk, Chapter III. Conversations and Exhortations of Father Zossima, The Brothers Karamazov (1880)
Sarcasm: This is usually the last refuge of modest and chaste-souled people when the privacy of their soul is coarsely and intrusively invaded.Part II, Chapter VI, Notes From Underground (1864)
The wisest of all, in my opinion, is he who can, if only once a month, call himself a fool.Bobok (1873)
I may be wrong, but it seems to me that it is possible to tell a man by his laugh, and that if on first meeting you like the laugh of a person who is completely unknown to you, then you may confidently say that this is a good person.Part I, Chapter III, The House of the Dead (1862)
Happiness lies not in happiness but only in the attempt to achieve it.January 1876, Chapter III, A Writer's Diary (1873-1881)
Much unhappiness has come into the world because of bewilderment and things left unsaid.Introduction, A Number of Articles about Russian Literature (1861)
Man is fond of reckoning his troubles, but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up as he ought, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it.Part II, Chapter VI, Notes From Underground (1864)
To make truth sound probable you must always mix in some falsehood with it.Part II, Chapter I, The Possessed (Demons) (1872)
Life without hope is impossible.
(Also known as: To live without Hope is to Cease to live.)Part I, Chapter II, The House of the Dead (1862)
It seems, in fact, as though the second half of a man’s life is usually made up of nothing, but the habits he has accumulated during the first half.Part II, Chapter II, The Possessed (Demons) (1872)
If one wanted to crush and destroy a man entirely, to mete out to him the most terrible punishment, one at which the most fearsome murderer would tremble, shrinking from it in advance, all one would have to do would be to make him do work that was completely and utterly devoid of usefulness and meaning.
(Also known as: Deprived of meaningful work, men and women lose their reason for existence; they go stark, raving mad.)Part II, Chapter VII, The House of the Dead (1862)
Above all, don’t lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to such a pass that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.Part I, Book II. An Unfortunate Gathering, Chapter II. The Old Buffoon, The Brothers Karamazov (1880)
Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart.Part III, Chapter V, Crime and Punishment (1866)
Talking nonsense? Not a bit! I like them to talk nonsense. That’s man’s one privilege over all creation.Part III, Chapter I, Crime and Punishment (1864)
To go wrong in one’s own way is better than to go right in someone else’s.Part III, Chapter I, Crime and Punishment (1866)
People speak sometimes about the “bestial” cruelty of man, but that is terribly unjust and offensive to beasts, no animal could ever be so cruel as a man, so artfully, so artistically cruel.Part II, Book V. Pro and Contra, Chapter IV. Rebellion, The Brothers Karamazov (1880)
Man is a mystery. One must solve it. If you spend your entire life trying to puzzle it out, then do not say that you have wasted your time. I occupy myself with this mystery, because I want to be a man.Letter to Mikhail Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (August 16, 1839)
Right or wrong, it’s very pleasant to break something from time to time.Part I, Chapter IX, Notes From Underground (1864)
Taking a new step, uttering a new word is what they fear most…Part I, Chapter I, Crime and Punishment (1866)
Nothing in the world is harder than speaking the truth and nothing easier than flattery.Part VI, Chapter IV, Crime and Punishment (1866)
Power is only vouchsafed to the man who dares to stoop and pick it up. There is only one thing, one thing needful: one has only to dare!Part V, Chapter IV, Crime and Punishment (1866)
But what can a decent man speak of with most pleasure? Answer: Of himself.Part I, Chapter I, Notes From Underground (1864)
For anyone to love a man, he must be hidden, for as soon as he shows his face, love is gone.Part II, Book V. Pro and Contra, Chapter IV. Rebellion, The Brothers Karamazov (1880)
So long as man remains free he strives for nothing so incessantly and so painfully as to find some one to worship.Part II, Book V. Pro and Contra, Chapter V. The Grand Inquisitor, The Brothers Karamazov (1880)
If there were no God, he would have to be invented.Part II, Book V. Pro and Contra, Chapter III. The Brothers Make Friends, The Brothers Karamazov (1880)
There is no such old topic on which one could not say something new.July and August 1876, Chapter III, A Writer's Diary (1873-1881)
If you want to be respected by others, the great thing is to respect yourself.Part III, Chapter II, The Insulted and the Injured (Humiliated and Insulted) (1861)
A fool with a heart and no brains is just as unhappy as a fool with brains and no heart.Part I, Chapter VII, The Idiot (1869)
On our earth we can only love with suffering and through suffering.Chapter III, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man (1877)
It’s not the brains that matter most, but that which guides them – the character, the heart, generous qualities, progressive ideas.Part III, Chapter II, The Insulted and the Injured (Humiliated and Insulted) (1861)
Money is freedom in the form of coins, and so for a man who has been completely deprived of freedom it is ten times as dear.Part I, Chapter I, The House of the Dead (1862)
To be a human among human beings, and remain one forever, no matter what misfortunes befall, not to become depressed, and not to falter – this is what life is, herein lies its task.Letter to his brother Mikhail (December 22, 1849)
Nothing is more seductive for a man than his freedom of conscience, but nothing is a greater cause of suffering.Part II, Book V. Pro and Contra, Chapter V. The Grand Inquisitor, The Brothers Karamazov (1880)
Atheism: It seeks to replace in itself the moral power of religion, in order to appease the spiritual thirst of parched humanity and save it; not by Christ, but by force.Part IV, Chapter VII, The Idiot (1869)
Love a man even in his sin, for that is the semblance of Divine Love and is the highest love on earth.Part II, Book VI. The Russian Monk, Chapter III. Conversations and Exhortations of Father Zossima, The Brothers Karamazov (1880)
For the secret of man’s being is not only to live but to have something to live for.Part II, Book V. Pro and Contra, Chapter V. The Grand Inquisitor, The Brothers Karamazov (1880)
If you want to conquer the world, conquer yourself.Part I, Chapter III, The Possessed (Demons) (1872)
Without some goal and some effort to reach it, no man can live.Part II, Chapter VII, The House of the Dead (1862)
Men reject their prophets and slay them, but they love their martyrs and honor those whom they have slain.Part II, Book VI. The Russian Monk, Chapter III. Conversations and Exhortations of Father Zossima, The Brothers Karamazov (1880)
Man is unhappy because he doesn’t know he’s happy. It’s only that.Part II, Chapter I, The Possessed (Demons) (1872)