I wanted to fathom her secrets; I wanted her to come to me and say: "I love you," and if not that, if that was senseless insanity, then...well, what was there to care about? Did I know what I wanted? I was like one demented: all I wanted was to be near her, in the halo of her glory, in her radiance, always, for ever, all my life. I knew nothing more!
Fyodor DostoevskyThere is, indeed, nothing more annoying than to be, for instance, wealthy, of good family, nice-looking, fairly intelligent, and even good-natured, and yet to have no talents, no special faculty, no peculiarity even, not one idea of one's own, to be precisely "like other people.
Fyodor DostoevskyBad people are to be found everywhere, but even among the worst there may be something good.
Fyodor DostoevskyBreak what must be broken, once for all, that's all, and take the suffering on oneself.
Fyodor DostoevskyTo achieve perfection, one must first begin by not understanding many things! And if we understand too quickly, we may not understand well.
Fyodor DostoevskyFather monks, why do you fast! Why do you expect reward in heaven for that?...No, saintly monk, you try being virtuous in the world, do good to society, without shutting yourself up in a monastery at other people's expense, and without expecting a reward up aloft for it--you'll find that a bit harder.
Fyodor Dostoevsky