No matter how the sun shone, the sea held forth no more promises.

The reasoning is classic in its clarity. If God does not exist, Kirilov is god. If God does not exist, Kirilov must kill himself. Kirilov must therefore kill himself to become god. That logic is absurd, but it is what is needed.

We are condemned to live together.

Liberty is the right not to lie.

how hard it must be to live only with what one knows and what one remembers, cut off from what one hopes for!

Everyone would like to behave like a pagan, with everyone else behaving like a Christian.

The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.