Fyodor Dostoevsky Quotes

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The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is to make sure he never knows he's in prison.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Escaping, Way, Prison

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The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Lying, Alive, Criminal Mind

Fyodor Dostoevsky (2011). “The Brothers Karamazov”, p.440, Bantam Classics

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Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Inspirational, Sad, Pain

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Jane Austen, Lewis Carroll, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (2014). “The 10 Greatest Books of All Time”, p.262, Google Publishing

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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. When he has no respect for anyone, he can no longer love, and, in order to divert himself, having no love in him, he yields to his impulses, indulges in the lowest forms of pleasure, and behaves in the end like an animal. And it all comes from lying - lying to others and to yourself.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Wisdom, Truth, Lying

"The Brothers Karamazov". Book by Fyodor Dostoevsky, 1879 - 1880.

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When I look back on my past and think how much time I wasted on nothing, how much time has been lost in futilities, errors, laziness, incapacity to live; how little I appreciated it, how many times I sinned against my heart and soul-then my heart bleeds. Life is a gift, life is happiness, every minute can be an eternity of happiness.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Moving On, Heart, Past

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Nothing in this world is harder than speaking the truth, nothing easier than flattery.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Truth, Honesty, Punishment

"Crime and Punishment". Book by Fyodor Dostoevsky (Part VI, Chapter 4, p. 471), 1866.

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The darker the night, the brighter the stars, The deeper the grief, the closer is God!

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Good Night, God, Stars

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I gave up caring about anything, and all the problems disappeared.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Caring, Problem, Gave Up

Fyodor Dostoevsky (2016). “Short Stories”, p.185, Xist Publishing

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If you want to overcome the whole world, overcome yourself.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Overcoming, World, Want

"Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Love, Spiritual, Animal

Fyodor Dostoevsky (2015). “The Brothers Karamazov”, p.484, First Avenue Editions

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It is better to be unhappy and know the worst, than to be happy in a fool's paradise.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Unhappy, Paradise, Fool

Fyodor Dostoevsky (2017). “The Idiot (English French edition illustrated): L’Idiot (Anglais Français édition illustré)”, p.1139, Clap Publishing, LLC.

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Learning to love is hard and we pay dearly for it. It takes hard work and a long apprenticeship, for it is not just for a moment that we must learn to love, but forever.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Hard Work, Love Is, Long

Fyodor Dostoevsky (2003). “Brothers Karamazov”, p.428, Bantam Classics

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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.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Men, Animal, People

"Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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If you wish to glimpse inside a human soul and get to know a man ... just watch him laugh. If he laughs well, he's a good man.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Laughter, Men, Laughing

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Only the heart knows how to find what is precious.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Inspiration, Heart, Know How

Fyodor Dostoevsky (2011). “The Brothers Karamazov (卡拉馬助夫兄弟們)”, p.841, Hyweb Technology Co. Ltd.

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The soul is healed by being with children.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Love, Spiritual, Children

"Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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A society should be judged not by how it treats its outstanding citizens but by how it treats its criminals.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Criminals, Citizens, Prison

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The most offensive is not their lying - one can always forgive lying - lying is a delightful thing, for it leads to truth - what is offensive is that they lie and worship their own lying.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Lying, Forgiving, Worship

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Jane Austen, Lewis Carroll, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (2014). “The 10 Greatest Books of All Time”, p.131, Google Publishing

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And so I ask myself: 'Where are your dreams?' And I shake my head and mutter: 'How the years go by!' And I ask myself again: 'What have you done with those years? Where have you buried your best moments? Have you really lived? Look,' I say to myself, 'how cold it is becoming all over the world!' And more years will pass and behind them will creep grim isolation. Tottering senility will come hobbling, leaning on a crutch, and behind these will come unrelieved boredom and despair. The world of fancies will fade, dreams will wilt and die and fall like autumn leaves from the trees. . . .

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Dream, Fall, Autumn

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Nothing is easier than to denounce the evildoer; nothing is more difficult than to understand him.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Evil, Politics, Easier

"Personal Quotes/ Biography". www.imdb.com.

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Humanity can live without science, it can live without bread, but it cannot live without beauty. Without beauty, there would be nothing left to do in this life. Here the secret lies. Here lies the entire story.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Lying, Humanity, Secret

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What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Love, Life, Suffering

FYODOR MIKHAILOVICH DOSTOEVSKY (1952). “GREAT BOOKS OF THE WESTERN WORLD”

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Whoever has experienced the power and the unrestrained ability to humiliate another human being automatically loses his own sensations. Tyranny is a habit, it has its own organic life, it develops finally into a disease. The habit can kill and coarsen the very best man or woman to the level of a beast. Blood and power intoxicate ... the return of the human dignity, repentance and regeneration becomes almost impossible.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Men, Blood, Levels

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Wealth is the number of things one can do without.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Numbers, Wealth, Can Do

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If everything on earth were rational, nothing would happen.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Earth, Rational, Happens

108 Copy quote

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Born: November 11, 1821
Died: February 9, 1881
Occupation: Novelist
Cite this Page: Citation

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