Dostoyevsky's Birthday in 10 Dark Quotes

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky is one of the best-known names in Russian literature. Folks who know very little about Russia usually know about a dark, dismal book called Crime and Punishment, and Russians and Russophiles know its author as a profound thinker on social, political, spiritual, and psychological issues. His lengthy novels and other works explore complex situations and give voice to thousands of characters, each with a unique story to tell. Dostoyevsky is crucial to the literary patchwork of nineteenth-century Russian society, and the philosophical and narrative depth of his writings continue to ring true today. 

In honor of his 195th birthday, here are ten quotes to celebrate the life and writings of Fyodor Dostoyevsky. They may not boost your mood, but they'll get you thinking – and that, after all, is the goal of any great writer.  

1. “But how could you live and have no story to tell?”
   —White Nights (1848)

2. “Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.” 
   —The Brothers Karamazov (1880)

3. “It is better to be unhappy and know the worst, than to be happy in a fool's paradise.”
   —The Idiot

4. “Two times two equals five is sometimes a very charming little thing.”
   —Notes from Underground (1864)

5. “Once it's been proved to you that you're descended from an ape, it's no use pulling a face; just accept it. Once they've proved to you that a single droplet of your own fat must be dearer to you than a hundred thousand of your fellow human beings and consequently that all so-called virtues and duties are nothing but ravings and prejudices, then accept that too, because there's nothing to be done.
   —Notes from Underground (1864)

6. “The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.”
   —Notes from a Dead House (1862)

7. “To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's.”
   —Crime and Punishment (1866)

8. “It was a marvelous night, the sort of night one only experiences when one is young. The sky was so bright, and there were so many stars that, gazing upward, one couldn't help wondering how so many whimsical, wicked people could live under such a sky.” 
   —White Nights (1848)

9. “On our Earth we can only love with suffering and through suffering. We cannot love otherwise, and we know of no other sort of love. I want suffering in order to love. I long, I thirst, this very instant, to kiss with tears the earth that I have left, and I don't want, I won't accept life on any other!"
   —The Dream of a Ridiculous Man  (1877)

10. “If you want to overcome the whole world, overcome yourself.”
    —Demons (1872)

Cover photo: wikimedia.org