FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKY’S THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV (PEVEAR AND VOLOKHONSKY TRANSLATION)
feel free to change pronouns, etc!
“above all, don’t lie to yourself.”
“what is hell? i maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love.”
“what is hell?”
“the more i love mankind as a whole, the less i love man in particular.”
“you have as much right as the rich and mighty.”
“god and the devil are fighting there, and the battlefield is the heart of man.”
“i think the devil doesn’t exist, but man has created him, he has created him in his own image and likeness.”
“this is my last message to you: in sorrow, seek happiness.”
“the more stupid one is, the closer one is to reality.”
“intelligence is unprincipled, but stupidity is honest and straightforward.”
“love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams.”
“you will burn and you will burn out; you will be healed and come back again.”
“a beast can never be as cruel as a human being, so artistically, so picturesquely cruel.”
“i love some great deeds done by men, though I’ve long ceased perhaps to have faith in them.”
“the man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to such a pass that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others.”
“love all God’s creation, both the whole and every grain of sand. Love every leaf, every ray of light. love the animals, love the plants, love each separate thing.”
“and what's strange, what would be marvelous, is not that God should really exist; the marvel is that such an idea, the idea of the necessity of God, could enter the head of such a savage, vicious beast as man.”
“they were like two enemies in love with one another.”
“one can fall in love and still hate.”
“forgive me... for my love -for ruining you with my love.”
“if he's honest, he'll steal; if he's human, he'll murder; if he's faithful, he'll deceive.”
“go, and do not be afraid.”
“in most cases, people, even wicked people, are far more naive and simple-hearted than one generally assumes. and so are we.”
“everything passes, only truth remains.”
“ ...i believe that you are sincere and good at heart.”
“the world stands on absurdities, and without them perhaps nothing at all would happen.”
“i do not rebel against my God, i simply do not accept his world.”
“i am too young and I've loved you too much.”
“i have so much to say to you that i am afraid i shall tell you nothing.”
“work, work tirelessly.”
“with such a hell in your heart and your head, how can you live? how can you love?”
“learning to love is hard and we pay dearly for it.”
“there is something spiteful and yet open-hearted about you”
“they have this social justification for every nasty thing they do!”
“--you wouldn't have hurt me like this for nothing. so what have I done? how have I wronged you? tell me.”
“i'd have killed a man in a duel with a pistol for calling me low-born.”
“i don’t understand anything...and i no longer want to understand anything.”
“every one is really responsible to all men for all men and for everything.”
“i'm not a bit drunk. brandy's all very well, but i need two bottles to make me drunk.”
“you will have many enemies, but even your foes will love you.”
“she has known all the time that I cared for her--though I never said a word of my love to her-- “
“ it is sometimes rather enjoyable to feel insulted, is it not?”
