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To crush, to annihilate a man utterly, to inflict on him the most terrible of punishments so that the most ferocious murderer would shudder at it and dread it beforehand, one need only give him work of an absolutely, completely useless and irrational character.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

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Fyodor Dostoevsky
Age: 60 †
Born: 1821
Born: January 1
Died: 1881
Died: January 1
Biographer
Essayist
Journalist
Novelist
Opinion Journalist
Philosopher
Poet
Short Story Writer
Translator
Writer
Dostoievski
Fyodor Dostoievski
Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoievski
Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky
Character
Utterly
Annihilate
Give
Dread
Ferocious
Need
Crush
Punishments
Giving
Punishment
Shudder
Needs
Useless
Beforehand
Work
Absolutely
Inflict
Would
Completely
Murderer
Men
Terrible
Irrational

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I wanted to discuss the suffering of humanity in general, but perhaps we'd better confine ourselves to the sufferings of children.
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Man has it all in his hands, and it all slips through his fingers from sheer cowardice.
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Because I'm a Karamazov. Because when I fall into the abyss, I go straight into it, head down and heels up, and I'm even pleased that I'm falling in just such a humiliating position, and for me I find it beautiful.
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The sky was horribly dark , but one could distinctly see tattered clouds , and between them fathomless black patches. Suddenly I noticed in one of these patches a star , and began watching it intently. That was because that star had given me an idea : I decided to kill myself that night .
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Truly great men must, I think, experience great sorrow on the earth.
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My life is ending, I know that well, but every day that is left me I feel how my earthly life is in touch with a new infinite, unknown, but approaching life, the nearness of which sets my soul quivering with rapture, my mind glowing and my heart weeping with joy.
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For what is man without desires, without free will, and without the power of choice but a stop in an organ pipe?
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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.
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The more I love humanity in general, the less I love man in particular.
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In sinning, each man sins against all, and each man is at least partly guilt for another's sin. There is no isolated sin.
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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.
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Totally without hope one cannot live. To live without hope is to cease to live. Hell is hopelessness. It is no accident that above the entrance to Dante's hell is the inscription: Leave behind all hope, you who enter here.
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We must never forget that human motives are generally far more complicated than we are apt to suppose, and that we can very rarely accurately describe the motives of another.
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I tell you solemnly, that I have many times tried to become an insect. But I was not equal even to that. I swear, gentlemen, that to be too conscious is an illness — a real thorough-going illness.
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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.
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It's in the homes of spiteful old widows that one finds such cleanliness.
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If the person laughs well, they are a good person.
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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.
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Oh, if only I did nothing simply as a result of laziness.
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The secret of man's being is not only to live but to have something to live for.
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