The quotations of

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Russian novelist

1821–1881

55 quotes, most often on Love, Truth & Lies and God.

The second half of a man’s life is made up of nothing but the habits he has acquired during the first half.
There is nothing easier than lopping off heads and nothing harder than developing ideas.
- Ideas
- War & Peace
If you want to be respected by others the great thing is to respect yourself. Only by that, only by self-respect will you compel others to respect you.
The Insulted and the Injured (1861), Part III, Chapter 2 (tr. Constance Garnett, 1915)
Neither man or nation can exist without a sublime idea.
- Ideas
To kill someone for committing murder is a punishment incomparably worse than the crime itself. Murder by legal sentence is immeasurably more terrible than murder by brigands.
The Idiot (1868–9), Part 1, Chapter 2 (tr. Frederick Whishaw, 1887)
- Justice
Men reject their prophets and slay them, but they love their martyrs and honor those they have slain.
The Brothers Karamazov (1879–1880)In context
- Religion
Inventors and geniuses have almost always been looked on as no better than fools at the beginning of their career, and very frequently at the end of it also.
The Idiot (1868–9), Part 3, Chapter 1 (tr. Constance Garnett, 1913)
- Genius
- Technology
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 (1879–1880)
- Love
Fathers and teachers, I ponder, “What is hell?” I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love.
The Brothers Karamazov (1879–1880), Book VI, Chapter 3 (trans. Constance Garnett)In context
- Love
All is in a man’s hands and he lets it all slip from cowardice, that’s an axiom. It would be interesting to know what it is men are most afraid of. Taking a new step, uttering a new word is what they fear most.
Crime and Punishment (1866)In context
- Courage
- Fear
Granted I am a babbler, a harmless vexatious babbler, like all of us. But what is to be done if the direct and sole vocation of every intelligent man is babble, that is, the intentional pouring of water through a sieve?
Notes from Underground (1864), Part 1, Chapter 5 (tr. Constance Garnett, 1918)In context
- Intelligence
- Talking
The chief thing is to love others like yourself, that’s the chief thing, and that’s everything; nothing else is wanted — you will find out at once how to arrange it all.
The Dream of a Ridiculous Man (1877), V
- Love
They tease me now, telling me it was only a dream. But does it matter whether it was a dream or reality, if the dream made known to me the truth?
The Dream of a Ridiculous Man (1877), II
- Sleep
- Truth & Lies
A dream! What is a dream? And is not our life a dream?
The Dream of a Ridiculous Man (1877), V
- Life & Death
- Sleep
If you are penitent, you love. And if you love you are of God. All things are atoned for, all things are saved by love.
The Brothers Karamazov (1879–1880), Book II, Chapter 3 (trans. Constance Garnett)In context

Often credited to Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Quotes often credited to Fyodor Dostoyevsky that were said or written by someone else.

The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.
?UnattributedOften credited to Fyodor Dostoyevsky

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