133 quotes
The wisest of all, in my opinion, is he who can, if only once a month, call himself a fool — a faculty unheard of nowadays.
Bobok: From Somebody's Diary (1873)
To achieve perfection, one must first begin by not understanding many things! And if we understand too quickly, we may not understand well.
The Idiot (1868)
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.
The Brothers Karamazov (1879)
When... in the course of all these thousands of years has man ever acted in accordance with his own interests?
Notes from Underground (1864)
Oh, how hard it is to be the only one who knows the truth! But they won't understand that. No, they won't understand it.
The Dream of a Ridiculous Man (1877)
A great many people were put down as mad among us last year.
Bobok: From Somebody's Diary (1873)
A dream! What is a dream? And is not our life a dream?
The Dream of a Ridiculous Man (1877)
Man grows used to everything, the scoundrel.
Crime and Punishment (1866)
Lack of originality, everywhere, all over the world, from time immemorial, has always been considered the foremost quality and the recommendation of the active, efficient and practical man...
The Idiot (1868)
They were laughed at or pelted with stones.
The Dream of a Ridiculous Man (1877)
If anyone could prove to me that Christ is outside the truth, and if the truth really did exclude Christ, I should prefer to stay with Christ and not with truth.
Letter to Mme. N. D. Fonvisin (1854)
Men reject their prophets and slay them, but they love their martyrs and honor those they have slain.
The Brothers Karamazov (1879)
It's the great mystery of human life that old grief passes gradually into quiet tender joy.
The Brothers Karamazov (1879)
Why count the days, when even one days is enough for a man to know all happiness?
The Brothers Karamazov (1879)
Your worst sin is that you have destroyed and betrayed yourself for nothing.
Crime and Punishment (1866)
Russia was a slave in Europe but would be a master in Asia.
"You're a gentleman," they used to say to him. "You shouldn't have gone murdering people with a hatchet; that's no occupation for a gentleman."
Crime and Punishment (1866)
To be in love is not the same as loving. You can be in love with a woman and still hate her.
The Brothers Karamazov (1879)
I am a sick man... I am a wicked man. An unattractive man.
Notes from Underground (1864)
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.
Crime and Punishment (1866)