Top 684 Quotes & Sayings by Fyodor Dostoevsky - Page 3

Hell is the inability to love.

But men love abstract reasoning and neat systematization so much that they think nothing of distorting the truth, closing their eyes and ears to contrary evidence to preserve their logical constructions.

A man who lies to himself, and believes his own lies, becomes unable to recognize truth, either in himself or in anyone else, and he ends up losing respect for himself and for others.

Be not forgetful of prayer. Every time you pray, if your prayer is sincere, there will be new feeling and new meaning in it, which will give you fresh courage, and you will understand that prayer is an education.

Taking a new step. . .is what people fear most.

When I look back at the past and think of all the time I squandered in error and idleness,... then my heart bleeds. Life is a gift... every minute could have been an eternity of happiness! If only youth knew! Now my life will change; now I will be reborn.

But I always liked side-paths, little dark back-alleys behind the main road- there one finds adventures and surprises, and precious metal in the dirt.

If there is no God, then I am God.

I utter what you would not dare think

Hang your merit. I don't seek anyone's approbation.

There is only one thing that I dread: not to be worthy of my sufferings.

Happiness lies not in happiness but only in the attempt to achieve it.

Besides, nowadays, almost all capable people are terribly afraid of being ridiculous, and are miserable because of it.

At first, art imitates life. Then life will imitate art.Then life will find its very existence from the arts.

If you love all things, you will also attain the divine mystery that is in all things. For then your ability to perceive the truth will grow every day, and your mind will open itself to an all-embracing love

The secret of man's being is not only to live but to have something to live for.

To begin with unlimited freedom is to end with unlimited despotism.

A single day is sufficient for a man to discover what happiness is.

They were renewed by love; the heart of each held infinite sources of life for the heart of the other.

God has such gladness every time he sees from heaven that a sinner is praying to Him with all his heart, as a mother has when she sees the first smile on her baby's face.

Suffering is part and parcel of extensive intelligence and a feeling heart.

Love all God’s creation, both the whole and every grain of sand. Love every leaf, every ray of light. Love the animals, love the plants, love each separate thing. If thou love each thing thou wilt perceive the mystery of God in all; and when once thou perceive this, thou wilt thenceforward grow every day to a fuller understanding of it: until thou come at last to love the whole world with a love that will then be all-embracing and universal.

Neither man nor nation can exist without a sublime idea.

My friend, the truth is always implausible, did you know that? To make the truth more plausible, it's absolutely necessary to mix a bit of falsehood with it. People have always done so.

Intelligence alone is not nearly enough when it comes to acting wisely.

The world has proclaimed the reign of freedom, especially of late, but what do we see in this freedom of theirs? Nothing but slavery and self-destruction! For the world says: "You have desires and so satisfy them, for you have the same rights as the most rich and powerful. Don't be afraid of satisfying them and even multiply your desires."

Life is what matters, life alone - the continuous, eternal process of discovering life - and not the discovery itself.

Man is bound to lie about himself

Above all, avoid falsehood, every kind of falsehood, especially falseness to yourself. Watch over your own deceitfulness and look into it every hour, every minute.

People with new ideas, people with the faintest capacity for saying something new, are extremely few in number, extraordinarily so, in fact.

One must first learn to live oneself before one blames others.

Loving someone is different from being in love with someone. You can hate someone you're in love with

My sweetheart! When I think of you, it's as if I'm holding some healing balm to my sick soul, and although i suffer for you, i find that even suffering for you is easy.

Remember, too, every day, and whenever you can, repeat to yourself, Lord, have mercy on all who appear before Thee today. For every hour and every moment thousands of men leave life on this earth, and their souls appear before God. And how many of them depart in solitude, unknown, sad, dejected that no one mourns for them or even knows whether they have lived or not!

It is amazing what one ray of sunshine can do for a man!

Love children especially, for they too are sinless like the angels; they live to soften and purify our hearts and, as it were, to guide us.

There is, indeed, nothing more annoying than to be, for instance, wealthy, of good family, nice-looking, fairly intelligent, and even good-natured, and yet to have no talents, no special faculty, no peculiarity even, not one idea of one's own, to be precisely "like other people.

Through error you come to the truth! I am a man because I err! You never reach any truth without making fourteen mistakes and very likely a hundred and fourteen.

Two and two make four. Nature doesn't ask your advice. She isn't interested in your preferences or whether or not you approve of her laws. You must accept nature as she is with all the consequences that that implies.

Let us not forget that the reasons for human actions are usually incalculably more complex and diverse than we tend to explain them later, and are seldom clearly manifest.

Truly great men must, I think, experience great sorrow on the earth.

Nothing is more seductive for a man than his freedom of conscience, but nothing is a greater cause of suffering.

I drink because I wish to multiply my sufferings.

Every member of the society spies on the rest, and it is his duty to inform against them. All are slaves and equal in their slavery... The great thing about it is equality... Slaves are bound to be equal.

Drive nature out of the door and it will fly in at the window

Obedience, fasting, and prayer are laughed at, yet only through them lies the way to real true freedom. I cut off my superfluous and unnecessary desires, I subdue my proud and wanton will and chastise it with obedience, and with God's help I attain freedom of spirit and with it spiritual joy.

For what is man without desires, without free will, and without the power of choice but a stop in an organ pipe?

I want to suffer and be purified by suffering!

My God, a moment of bliss. Why, isn't that enough for a whole lifetime?

Above all, avoid lies, all lies, especially the lie to yourself. Keep watch on your own lie and examine it every hour, every minute. And avoid contempt, both of others and of yourself: what seems bad to you in yourself is purified by the very fact that you have noticed it in yourself. And avoid fear, though fear is simply the consequence of every lie. Never be frightened at your own faintheartedness in attaining love, and meanwhile do not even be very frightened by your own bad acts.

For all is like an ocean, all flows and connects; touch it in one place and it echoes at the other end of the world.

And it is so simple... The one thing is - love thy neighbor as thyself - that is the one thing. That is all, nothing else is needed. You will instantly find how to live.

The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.

A new philosophy, a new way of life, is not given for nothing. It has to be paid dearly for and only acquired with much patience and great effort

There is no explaining anything by reasoning and so it is useless to reason.

Compassion is the chief law of human existence.

... active love is a harsh and fearful thing compared with the love in dreams. Love in dreams thirsts for immediate action, quickly performed, and with everyone watching. Indeed, it will go as far as the giving even of one's life, provided it does not take long but is soon over, as on stage, and eveyone is looking on and praising. Whereas active love is labor and persistence, and for some people, perhaps, a whole science.

Luxuries are easy to take up but very difficult to give up

The greater the stupidity, the greater the clarity. Stupidity is brief and guileless, while wit equivocates and hides. Wit is a scoundrel, while stupidity is honest and sincere.

The death of a child is the greatest reason to doubt the existence of God.