Quotes by Dostoevsky: 40 Deep Reflections That Still Resonate Today

Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) was a Russian novelist, essayist, short story writer, and journalist. He is considered one of the greatest novelists in the world, including Russia. Many of his works are considered highly influential, and his quotes offer philosophical insight. Popular quotes by Dostoevsky are about human nature, suffering, mortality, and redemption. In this article, you can read 40 quotes by Fyodor Dostoevsky. We have also included a few White Nights Dostoevsky Quotes. These thought-provoking sayings remain relevant even today.

Top 10 Dostoevsky Quotes

These are the top ten quotes by Fyodor Dostoevsky

1. To go wrong in one’s own way is better than to go right in someone else’s
2. It takes something more than intelligence to act intelligently
3. Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most
4. I did not bow down to you, I bowed down to all the suffering of humanity
5. A hundred suspicions don’t make a proof
6. Man grows used to everything, the scoundrel
7. The man who has a conscience suffers while acknowledging his sin. That is his punishment as well as prison
8. The second half of a man’s life is made up of nothing but the habits he has acquired during the first half
9. In flattery, even if everything is false down to the last note, it is still pleasant, and people will listen not without pleasure; with coarse pleasure, perhaps, but pleasure nevertheless
   

5 Famous Quotes by Dostoevsky

These are the most famous quotes by Fyodor Dostoevsky

1. What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love
2. The soul is healed by being with children
3. Man is sometimes extraordinarily, passionately, in love with suffering…
4. Beauty will save the world
   

Also Read: 63 Timeless Reflections: Quotes by Friedrich Nietzsche 

5 Quotes by Dostoevsky on Life

Here are some quotes by Fyodor Dostoevsky on life

1. Only to live, to live and live Life, whatever it may be!
2. To live without hope is to cease to live
3. The secret of man’s being is not only to live but to have something to live for
4. I say let the world go to hell, but I should always have my tea
   

Also Read: 80 Thoughts for the Day to Inspire & Motivate You

5 Quotes by Dostoevsky on Love

These are popular quotes by Fyodor Dostoevsky on love

1. What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love
2. The chief thing is to love others like yourself, that’s the great thing, and that’s everything; nothing else is wanted
3. I am sorry I can say nothing more to console you, for love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared with love in dreams
4. To love is to suffer, and there can be no love otherwise

Also Read: 70+ Heartfelt Love Quotes in English to Express Your Feelings

5 Quotes by Dostoevsky on Society

Here are some quotes by Fyodor Dostoevsky on society

1. There is always an element of suffering even in the happiness of the Russian People, and without it their happiness is incomplete
2. The degree of civilisation in a society can be judged by entering its prisons
3. For everyone strives to keep his individuality as far apart as possible, wishes to secure the greatest possible fullness of life for himself; but meantime, all his efforts result not in attaining fullness of life but self-destruction, for instead of self-realization, he ends by arriving at complete solitude
4. 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
   

Also Read: 70 Abraham Lincoln Famous Quotes

5 Quotes by Dostoevsky on Suffering

Read these quotes by Fyodor Dostoevsky on suffering

1. Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart…
2. The man who has a conscience suffers while acknowledging his sin. That is his punishment as well as prison
3. Man is sometimes extraordinarily, passionately, in love with suffering…
4. Break what must be broken, once for all, that’s all, and take the suffering on oneself
5. Is there suffering upon this new earth? 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
   

5 Dostoevsky Quotes About Loneliness

These were the quotes by Fyodor Dostoevsky on loneliness

1. I am alone, I thought, and they are everybody
2. All mankind in our age have split up into units, they all keep apart, each in his own groove; each one holds aloof, hides himself and hides what he has, from the rest, and he ends by being repelled by others and repelling them
3. Much unhappiness has come into the world because of bewilderment and things left unsaid
4. I want to talk about everything with at least one person, as I talk about things with myself
   

Also Read: 50 Insightful Marcus Aurelius Quotes that You Shouldn’t Skip

5 Short Quotes by Fyodor Dostoevsky

These are popular short quotes by Dostoevsky

1. Man is a mystery
2. To live without hope is to cease to live
3. Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart
4. A hundred suspicions don’t make a proof
5. Beauty will save the world

5 White Nights Dostoevsky Quotes

Read the top five White Nights Dostoevsky Quotes

1. A strange affinity with unknown people is always an invitation to chaos. To the cosmos. To passion
2. Do you know that I love now to recall and visit at certain dates the places where I was once happy in my own way? I love to build up my present in harmony with the irrevocable past
3. And in vain does the dreamer rummage about in his old dreams, raking them over as though they were a heap of cinders… to revive in it all that he held so dear before, all that touched his heart … and that so splendidly deceived him
4. Oh, how unbearable a happy person sometimes!

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