Fyodor Dostoevsky Quotes To Remind You To Follow Your Dreams

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. A man who lies to himself and believes his own lies becomes unable to recognize truth, either in himself or in anyone else, and he ends up losing respect for himself and for others. When he has no respect for anyone, he can no longer love and, in order to divert himself, having no love in him, he yields to his impulses, indulges in the lowest forms of pleasure, and behaves in the end like an animal. And it all comes from lying, lying to others and to yourself. The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is to make sure he never knows he's in prison. The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for. Nothing in this world is harder than speaking the truth, nothing easier than flattery. It is better to be unhappy and know the worst than to be happy in a fool's paradise. When I look back on my past and think how much time I wasted on nothing, how much time has been lost in futilities, errors, laziness, incapacity to live, how little I appreciated it, how many times I sinned against my heart and soul, then my heart bleeds. Life is a gift, life is happiness, every minute can be an eternity of happiness. The darker the night, the brighter the stars, the deeper the grief, the closer is God. I gave up caring about anything, and all the problems disappeared. 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. The most offensive is not their lying. One can always forgive lying. Lying is a delightful thing, for it leads to truth. What is offensive is that they lie and worship their own lying. You can be sincere and still be stupid. Learning to love is hard, and we pay dearly for it. It takes hard work and a long apprenticeship, for it is not just for a moment that we must learn to love, but forever. What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love. People speak sometimes about the bestial cruelty of man, but that is terribly unjust and offensive to beasts. No animal could ever be so cruel as a man, so artfully, so artistically cruel. If you wish to glimpse inside a human soul and get to know a man, just watch him laugh. If he laughs well, he's a good man. You are told a lot about your education, but some beautiful, sacred memory, preserved since childhood, is perhaps the best education of all. If a man carries many such memories into life with him, he is saved for the rest of his days. And even if only one good memory is left in our hearts, it may also be the instrument of our salvation one day. Humanity can live without science, it can live without bread, but it cannot live without beauty. Without beauty, there would be nothing left to do in this life. Here the secret lies. Here lies the entire story. Nothing is easier than to denounce the evildoer. Nothing is more difficult than to understand him. If you want to be respected by others, the great thing is to respect yourself. Only by that, only by self-respect will you compel others to respect you. A hundred suspicions don't make a proof. It takes something more than intelligence to act intelligently. The man who lies to himself can be more easily offended than anyone else. You know it is sometimes very pleasant to take offense, isn't it? A man may know that nobody has insulted him, but that he has invented the insult for himself, has lied and exaggerated to make it picturesque, has caught at a word and made a mountain out of a molehill. He knows that himself. Yet he will be the first to take offense and will revel in his resentment till he feels great pleasure in it. The soul is healed by being with children. The more you succeed in loving, the more you'll be convinced at the existence of God and the immortality of your soul. But how could you live and have no story to tell? Only through suffering can we find ourselves. Don't be overwise. Fling yourself straight into life. Without deliberation, don't be afraid. The flood will bear you to the bank and set you safe on your feet again. The world says, you have needs, satisfy them. You have as much right as the rich and the mighty. Don't hesitate to satisfy your needs. Indeed, expand your needs and demand more. This is the worldly doctrine of today. And they believe that this is freedom. The result for the rich is isolation and suicide, for the poor, envy and murder. There is immeasurably more left inside than what comes out in words. He who masters the grey everyday is a hero. I think the devil doesn't exist, but man has created him. He has created him in his own image and likeness. 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. Only one thing matters, one thing to be able to dare. If you want to overcome the whole world, overcome yourself. Destroy my desires, eradicate my ideals, show me something better, and I will follow you. Man has it all in his hands, and it all slips through his fingers from sheer cowardice. The more incompetent one feels, the more eager he is to fight. Wealth is the number of things one can do without. There is no sin, and there can be no sin on all the earth, which the Lord will not forgive to the truly repentant. Man cannot commit a sin so great as to exhaust the infinite love of God. Can there be a sin which could exceed the love of God? Above all, don't lie to yourself. If God does not exist, then everything is permissible. You will burn, and you will burn out, you will be healed and come back again. Right attitudes produces right action. I believe there is no one deeper, lovelier, more sympathetic and more perfect than Jesus.