Fyodor Dostoevsky
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (November 11 1821 [O.S. October 30] – February 9 1881 [O.S. January 28]) is considered one of the greatest Russian writers. His works have had a profound and lasting effect on twentieth-century fiction.Dostoevsky's novels often feature characters living in poor conditions with disparate and extreme states of mind, and explore human psychology while analysing the political, social and spiritual states of the Russia of his time. Some scholars consider him to be the founder of existentialism for having published Notes from Underground (1874). Walter Kaufmann argues that this text constitutes "the best overture for existentialism ever written
26 Quotes
Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.
— Fyodor Dostoevsky
If there is no God, everything is permitted.
— Fyodor Dostoevsky
Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another.
— Fyodor Dostoevsky
It is not possible to eat me without insisting that I sing praises of my devourer?
— Fyodor Dostoevsky
It seems, in fact, as though the second half of a man's life is made up of nothing, but the habits he has accumulated during the first half.
— Fyodor Dostoevsky
The greatest happiness is to know the source of unhappiness.
— Fyodor Dostoevsky
Happiness does not lie in happiness, but in the achievement of it.
— Fyodor Dostoevsky
To live without Hope is to Cease to live.
— Fyodor Dostoevsky
Man only likes to count his troubles, but he does not count his joys.
— Fyodor Dostoevsky
Neither man or nation can exist without a sublime idea.
— Fyodor Dostoevsky
To be too conscious is an illness. A real thorough going illness.
— Fyodor Dostoevsky
The most pressing question on the problem of faith is whether a man as a civilized being can believe in the divinity of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, for therein rests the whole of our faith.
— Fyodor Dostoevsky
If you like a man's laugh before you know anything of him, you may say with confidence that he is a good man.
— Fyodor Dostoevsky
Lying to ourselves is more deeply ingrained than lying to others.
— Fyodor Dostoevsky
A real gentleman, even if he loses everything he owns, must show no emotion. Money must be so far beneath a gentleman that it is hardly worth troubling about.
— Fyodor Dostoevsky
Love all that has been created by God, both the whole and every grain of sand. Love every leaf and every ray of light. Love the beasts and the birds, love the plants, love every separate fragment. If you love each fragment, you will understand the mystery of the whole resting in God.
— Fyodor Dostoevsky
You are told a lot about your education, but some beautiful, sacred memory, preserved since childhood, is perhaps the best education of all. If a man carries many such memories into life with him, he is saved for the rest of his days. And even if only one good memory is left in our hearts, it may also be the instrument of our salvation one day.
— Fyodor Dostoevsky
It is easier for a Russian to become an atheist than for anyone else in the world.
— Fyodor Dostoevsky
A just cause is not ruined by a few mistakes.
— Fyodor Dostoevsky
The secret of man's being is not only to live but to have something to live for.
— Fyodor Dostoevsky
Realists do not fear the results of their study.
— Fyodor Dostoevsky
Sarcasm: the last refuge of modest and chaste-souled people when the privacy of their soul is coarsely and intrusively invaded.
— Fyodor Dostoevsky
Deprived of meaningful work, men and women lose their reason for existence; they go stark, raving mad.
— Fyodor Dostoevsky
I'm worried by all sorts of questions; please, answer them for me.
— Fyodor Dostoevsky
The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.
— Fyodor Dostoevsky
Nothing is easier than to denounce the evil doer; Nothing more difficult than understanding him.
— Fyodor Dostoevsky