Fyodor Dostoevsky was an impactful Russian novelist known for his thought-provoking exploration of religion, politics, and philosophy. He was born in Moscow on November 11, 1821, and he experienced various traumas over the course of his life that profoundly shaped his work. As a young adult, the writer was involved in antigovernment activities that resulted in his arrest and near execution — after which he spent four years in a Siberian labor camp — and he also suffered from ecstatic epilepsy for much of his life. Over the course of his illustrious career, Dostoevsky published many essays and short stories, but he is most celebrated for his novels, which include deeply psychological writing and famously feature ethical dilemmas and morally ambiguous characters.
To celebrate the remarkable life and legacy of Fyodor Dostoevsky, here are ten challenging and inspiring quotes from four of the renowned writer’s most significant novels.
Crime and Punishment (1866)
Crime and Punishment is a psychological novel that delves into the troubled mind of an impoverished former university student named Rodion Raskolnikov. The story is set in St. Petersburg and follows Raskolinokov as his theory that he is an “extraordinary man” and is therefore exempt from conventional morality ultimately drives him to commit murder. As Dostoevsky describes the inner turmoil and severe guilt Raskolinokov experiences in the wake of his crime, the novelist explores themes of morality, remorse, and redemption.
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, Crime and Punishment
We’re always thinking of eternity as an idea that cannot be understood, something immense. But why must it be? What if, instead of all this, you suddenly find just a little room there, something like a village bath-house, grimy, and spiders in every corner, and that’s all eternity is. Sometimes, you know, I can’t help feeling that that’s what it is.
Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment
The Idiot (1869)
In contrast to the guilty man at the center of Crime and Punishment, The Idiot represents Dostoevsky’s attempt to portray a purely innocent character. The novel revolves around Prince Lev Myshkin, a compassionate, trustworthy man who returns to Russia after a stay in a sanatorium in Switzerland. With his moral uprightness, Myshkin stands out from the corrupt, egotistical society of St. Petersburg. The Idiot is often labeled Dostoevsky’s “most personal” work because it was based on several events from the author’s real life — including epilepsy and mock execution.
Don’t let us forget that the causes of human actions are usually immeasurably more complex and varied than our subsequent explanations of them.
Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Idiot
There is something at the bottom of every new human thought, every thought of genius, or even every earnest thought that springs up in any brain, which can never be communicated to others, even if one were to write volumes about it and were explaining one’s idea for thirty-five years; there’s something left which cannot be induced to emerge from your brain, and remains with you forever; and with it you will die, without communicating to anyone perhaps the most important of your ideas.
Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Idiot
Demons (1872)
Dostoevsky’s Demons is a political novel in which the author addresses the ideological turmoil and nihilism that were prevalent in 19th-century Russia. The story is based upon an actual 1869 tragedy where a student who had split from a group of young revolutionaries was murdered by the anarchist Sergey Nechayev and several comrades. In Demons, Dostoevsky combines the Nechayev case with his own convictions about the danger of extreme ideologies.
I do not wish you much happiness — it would bore you; I do not wish you trouble either; but, following the people’s philosophy, I will simply repeat: ‘Live more’ and try somehow not to be too bored; this useless wish I am adding on my own.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Demons
And a real, undoubted grief is sometimes capable of making a solid and steadfast man even out of a phenomenally light-minded one, if only for a short time; moreover, real and true grief has sometimes even made fools more intelligent, also only for a time, of course; grief has this property.
Fyodor Dostoevsky, Demons
The Brothers Karamazov (1880)
Dostoevsky’s final novel, The Brothers Karamazov, is typically considered his magnum opus. It tells the story of three brothers — Dmitri, Ivan, and Alyosha — who each have vastly different philosophies about life, religion, and morality. This complex family drama takes place against a plot that includes a murder mystery, a court trial, and a destructive web of love triangles. The Brothers Karamazov offers an intricate portrait of 19th-century Russian life, and it also contains many of Dostoevsky’s most famous musings on the questions of God, free will, suffering, and redemption.
The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.
Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
I have a longing for life, and I go on living in spite of logic. Though I may not believe in the order of the universe, yet I love the sticky little leaves as they open in spring. I love the blue sky, I love some people, whom one loves you know sometimes without knowing why.
Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
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, The Brothers Karamazov
I think I could stand anything, any suffering, only to be able to say and to repeat to myself every moment, ‘I exist.’ In thousands of agonies — I exist. I’m tormented on the rack — but I exist! Though I sit alone in a pillar — I exist! I see the sun, and if I don’t see the sun, I know it’s there. And there’s a whole life in that, in knowing that the sun is there.
Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
Dostoevsky’s four great novels, in addition to his expansive body of work, which includes the novella Notes from Underground (1864) and the acclaimed short story White Nights (1848), have deeply shaped the literary genres of modernism and existentialism. His work has also been influential in other fields of study, including psychology, theology, and literary criticism. Dostoevsky’s masterful exploration of the human psyche appeals to readers regardless of time and location, which is why his books are still respected and studied over 140 years after his death. His characters are painfully human in their imperfection and complexity, his social commentary is courageous and fierce, and he balances dark, gritty subject matter with striking moments of humor. For these reasons and many more, Fyodor Dostoevsky is widely considered one of the most skilled and influential novelists of all time.
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