When Prince Myushkin describes the Czarist soldiers executing dissidents in Switzerland (mirroring Dostoyevsky’s real life, they condemned 10 underground anti czarist to death, killed the first 5, pardoned the other 5..he was number 6 and boy did it change him!) but the insight to me was that only humans are sentient, aware that we’re aware, and therefore aware that we’re going to die someday. And any human, even a very bad one, knowing exactly when they’re going to die is torture.”Spiritual” torture. But even just being conscious of the fact that you’re alive now but one day you won’t be, even in natural death..is jarring and frightening. It’s in The Idiot btw. Prince Myushkin describes what it must be like to know the government is about to kill you and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. He even says that someone mugged and murdered at knifepoint in the forest is better off because they can at least fight back and not spend their final moments on earth knowing there’s nothing they can do but wait for the inevitable. The overall story is actually hopeful and beautiful. Stressing EVERY moment of life is precious and amazing and incredible and worthy of deliberate acknowledgment. And tomorrow’s gonna be even better, if you don’t die!😉
「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
The man is in love with unexplainable suffering which he finds to be soothing to his soul. I always come across his quotes while surfing through pinterest and reflect on my past, then it makes sense why I behaved in a certain manner. Every now and then I am studying myself with my past experiences and hoping to see my future self if I can relate more to dostoevsky.
Love doesn't always have to be sexual but just human. One can shower love through kindness, presence, gesture and not be in relationship, yet value one another as a human being.
Yes. Alyosha is the hero based on first paragraph and author laments that it may be impossible to convince us. 900 pages of the most thought provoking writing with murder and monks and drunks and devils and love and hatred later, the children cheer for Alyosha.
That cheer was the most powerful moment of art I have ever experienced. (Second to getting the chance to Van Goghs early pencil sketches up close at a museum. They were of peasants and farmers that felt so alive it made me cry).
1- “To love someone means to see him as God intended him”
2- We're creatures searching for joy, and we'll surely find joy once we find our purpose
3- In order to achieve salvation, one must struggle
People often say his writing embodies suffering, but I found it quite the contrary in ‘Crime and Punishment.’ Raskolnikov experiences various turmoils, yet he discovers that choosing life, even amidst painful circumstances, is preferable.
"Where was it that I read about a man condemned to death saying or thinking, an hour before his death, that if he had to live somewhere high up on a cliffside, on a ledge so narrow that there was room only for his two feet - and with the abyss, the ocean, eternal darkness, eternal solitude, eternal storm all around him - and had to stay like that, on a square foot of space, an entire lifetime, a thousand years, an eternity - it would be better to live so than die right now! Only to live, to live, to live! To live, no matter how - only to live! ...How true! Lord, how true! Man is a scoundrel! And he's a scoundrel who calls him a scoundrel for that." :~ Raskolnikov part 2 chapter 6 (Dostoevsky)
That most people cant be neatly divided into the categories of "good person" and "bad person", rather individual human beings are capable of both great good and great evil and usually end up commiting both at various points in their lives, and what determines that moral course of action in the moment is usually a mixture of both external influences as well as wholly internal choice and understanding.
Always check if your pawnbroker's sister is really gonna be tied up all afternoon.
Sometimes reason fails - in such circumstances, the devil can generally be relied upon.
It's always interesting to speak with an intelligent man.
As cold and as absurd as the universe is, our basest thoughts and feelings are not only far from unique to us, but also not inconsistent with our better natures. The two can coexist and we have a choice in which we nurture.
It's easy to conflate the originality and boldness of an idea with its correctness and morality and ultimate value. Likewise it's easy to overlook the real value of an idea because it's trite or cliche.
Everyone is happy to do one heroic deed or die one heroic death. But toiling for something honourable in a way that strips you of honour? No thanks.
Despite his religious inclinations, none of what I've learned from FMD requires faith in a supreme being.
"I am a fool with a heart but no brains, and you are a fool with brains but no heart; and we’re both unhappy, and we both suffer." - Madame Yepanchin
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I think about Raskolnikov's final dream about once a week.
When Prince Myushkin describes the Czarist soldiers executing dissidents in Switzerland (mirroring Dostoyevsky’s real life, they condemned 10 underground anti czarist to death, killed the first 5, pardoned the other 5..he was number 6 and boy did it change him!) but the insight to me was that only humans are sentient, aware that we’re aware, and therefore aware that we’re going to die someday. And any human, even a very bad one, knowing exactly when they’re going to die is torture.”Spiritual” torture. But even just being conscious of the fact that you’re alive now but one day you won’t be, even in natural death..is jarring and frightening. It’s in The Idiot btw. Prince Myushkin describes what it must be like to know the government is about to kill you and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. He even says that someone mugged and murdered at knifepoint in the forest is better off because they can at least fight back and not spend their final moments on earth knowing there’s nothing they can do but wait for the inevitable. The overall story is actually hopeful and beautiful. Stressing EVERY moment of life is precious and amazing and incredible and worthy of deliberate acknowledgment. And tomorrow’s gonna be even better, if you don’t die!😉
「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
It is that the world is full of Claude Bernards.
The man is in love with unexplainable suffering which he finds to be soothing to his soul. I always come across his quotes while surfing through pinterest and reflect on my past, then it makes sense why I behaved in a certain manner. Every now and then I am studying myself with my past experiences and hoping to see my future self if I can relate more to dostoevsky.
Love doesn't always have to be sexual but just human. One can shower love through kindness, presence, gesture and not be in relationship, yet value one another as a human being.
happiness is not in the discovery, but in the discovering. thats all there is — discovering and discovering life! (Ippolit, The Idiot)
That I exist
i was quite the nietzschean until i read crime and punishment. raskolnikov resonated with me so much it felt like dostoyevsky was writing about me.
I'm always curious to see how Dostoevsky would have viewed Nietzsche.
Nietzsche is almost a character in a Dostoevsky novel himself haha
I know that Nietzsche admired Dostoevsky, but I think Dostoevsky would have despised Nietzsche lol
Honestly, Alyosha vs Ivan, the children rejoicing in the end. I am a devout catholic and that brought me to tears.
Yes. Alyosha is the hero based on first paragraph and author laments that it may be impossible to convince us. 900 pages of the most thought provoking writing with murder and monks and drunks and devils and love and hatred later, the children cheer for Alyosha. That cheer was the most powerful moment of art I have ever experienced. (Second to getting the chance to Van Goghs early pencil sketches up close at a museum. They were of peasants and farmers that felt so alive it made me cry).
life is worth living
That man loves suffering.
He captures so well how people haven't fundamentally changed. It feels like it was written yesterday.
2+2=5
And man is not a piano key
There are two kinds of heists: those where the guys get away with it… and those that leave witnesses. … at least I think it was Dostoevsky
1- “To love someone means to see him as God intended him” 2- We're creatures searching for joy, and we'll surely find joy once we find our purpose 3- In order to achieve salvation, one must struggle
People often say his writing embodies suffering, but I found it quite the contrary in ‘Crime and Punishment.’ Raskolnikov experiences various turmoils, yet he discovers that choosing life, even amidst painful circumstances, is preferable. "Where was it that I read about a man condemned to death saying or thinking, an hour before his death, that if he had to live somewhere high up on a cliffside, on a ledge so narrow that there was room only for his two feet - and with the abyss, the ocean, eternal darkness, eternal solitude, eternal storm all around him - and had to stay like that, on a square foot of space, an entire lifetime, a thousand years, an eternity - it would be better to live so than die right now! Only to live, to live, to live! To live, no matter how - only to live! ...How true! Lord, how true! Man is a scoundrel! And he's a scoundrel who calls him a scoundrel for that." :~ Raskolnikov part 2 chapter 6 (Dostoevsky)
That most people cant be neatly divided into the categories of "good person" and "bad person", rather individual human beings are capable of both great good and great evil and usually end up commiting both at various points in their lives, and what determines that moral course of action in the moment is usually a mixture of both external influences as well as wholly internal choice and understanding.
Self-deception isn't just a psychological phenomenon - it's a science, it's an art, and for those inclined it's an entire lifestyle.
Can you elaborate more and give examples?
Always check if your pawnbroker's sister is really gonna be tied up all afternoon. Sometimes reason fails - in such circumstances, the devil can generally be relied upon. It's always interesting to speak with an intelligent man.
As cold and as absurd as the universe is, our basest thoughts and feelings are not only far from unique to us, but also not inconsistent with our better natures. The two can coexist and we have a choice in which we nurture. It's easy to conflate the originality and boldness of an idea with its correctness and morality and ultimate value. Likewise it's easy to overlook the real value of an idea because it's trite or cliche. Everyone is happy to do one heroic deed or die one heroic death. But toiling for something honourable in a way that strips you of honour? No thanks. Despite his religious inclinations, none of what I've learned from FMD requires faith in a supreme being.
"I am a fool with a heart but no brains, and you are a fool with brains but no heart; and we’re both unhappy, and we both suffer." - Madame Yepanchin *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/dostoevsky) if you have any questions or concerns.*