60 Fyodor Dostoevsky Quotes on Love & Happiness (LIFE)

Top 10 Most Famous Fyodor Dostoevsky Quotes (BEST)

“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.”
Fyodor Dostoevsky

The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.

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. — 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.

What is hell I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love. — What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to **love**.

To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's. — To go wrong in one’s own way is better than to go right in someone else’s.

The darker the night, the brighter the stars, The deeper the grief, the closer is God! — The darker the night, the brighter the stars, The deeper the **grief**, the closer is God!

The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is to make sure he never knows he's in prison. — The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is to make sure he never knows he’s in prison.

I say let the world go to hell, but I should always have my tea. — I say let the world go to hell, but I should always have my **tea**.

Nothing in this world is harder than speaking the truth, nothing easier than flattery. — Nothing in this world is harder than speaking the **truth**, nothing easier than flattery.

Man only likes to count his troubles; he doesn't calculate his happiness. — Man only likes to count his troubles; he doesn’t calculate his **happiness**.

6 Fyodor Dostoevsky Quotes on Love

“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.”
Fyodor Dostoevsky

I love mankind, he said, 'but I find to my amazement that the more I love mankind as a whole, the less I love man in particular.' — I love mankind, he said, ‘but I find to my amazement that the more I love mankind as a whole, the less I love man in particular.’

Nothing is easier than to denounce the evildoer; nothing is more difficult than to understand him.

We sometimes encounter people, even perfect strangers, who begin to interest us at first sight, somehow suddenly, all at once, before a word has been spoken.

To love someone means to see them as God intended them.

It is not the brains that matter most, but that which guides them — the character, the heart, generous qualities, progressive ideas. — It is not the brains that matter most, but that which guides them — the **character**, the heart, **generous** qualities, progressive ideas.

14 Inspirational Fyodor Dostoevsky Quotes About Life

“Man is a mystery. It needs to be unravelled, and if you spend your whole life unravelling it, don’t say that you’ve wasted time. I am studying that mystery because I want to be a human being.”
Fyodor Dostoevsky

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. — 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 soul is healed by being with children. — The soul is healed by being with **children**.

It seems, in fact, as though the second half of a man's life is made up of nothing, but the habits he has accumulated during the first half. — It seems, in fact, as though the second half of a man’s life is made up of nothing, but the **habits** he has accumulated during the first half.

You will burn and you will burn out; you will be healed and come back again.

If you want to overcome the whole world, overcome yourself.

Power is given only to those who dare to lower themselves and pick it up. Only one thing matters, one thing; to be able to dare! — Power is given only to those who **dare** to lower themselves and pick it up. Only one thing matters, one thing; to be able to dare!

But how could you live and have no story to tell?

To live without hope is to cease to live. — To live without **hope** is to cease to live.

A real gentleman, even if he loses everything he owns, must show no emotion. Money must be so far beneath a gentleman that it is hardly worth troubling about. — A real gentleman, even if he loses everything he owns, must show no emotion. **Money** must be so far beneath a gentleman that it is hardly worth troubling about.

If everything on earth were rational, nothing would happen.

Everything passes, only truth remains. — Everything passes, only **truth** remains.

I can see the sun, but even if I cannot see the sun, I know that it exists. And to know that the sun is there - that is living. — I can see the sun, but even if I cannot see the sun, I know that it exists. And to know that the sun is there – that is living.

Much unhappiness has come into the world because of bewilderment and things left unsaid.

8 Deep Fyodor Dostoevsky Quotes on Happiness

“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.”
Fyodor Dostoevsky

It is better to be unhappy and know the worst, than to be happy in a fool's paradise. — It is better to be unhappy and know the worst, than to be **happy** in a fool’s paradise.

The greatest happiness is to know the source of unhappiness.

I gave up caring about anything, and all the problems disappeared.

“If you wish to glimpse inside a human soul and get to know a man, don’t bother analyzing his ways of being silent, of talking, of weeping, of seeing how much he is moved by noble ideas; you will get better results if you just watch him laugh. If he laughs well, he’s a good man.”
Fyodor Dostoevsky

Only the heart knows how to find what is precious.

Deprived of meaningful work, men and women lose their reason for existence; they go stark, raving mad.

The cleverest of all, in my opinion, is the man who calls himself a fool at least once a month.

10 Deep Fyodor Dostoevsky Quotes that Will Make You Think

“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.”
Fyodor Dostoevsky

It takes something more than intelligence to act intelligently.

Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most. — Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people **fear** most.

There are things which a man is afraid to tell even to himself, and every decent man has a number of such things stored away in his mind.

Talking nonsense is the sole privilege mankind possesses over the other organisms. It's by talking nonsense that one gets to the truth! I talk nonsense, therefore I'm human. — Talking nonsense is the sole privilege mankind possesses over the other organisms. It’s by talking nonsense that one gets to the truth! I talk nonsense, therefore I’m human.

Right or wrong, it's very pleasant to break something from time to time. — Right or wrong, it’s very pleasant to break something from time to time.

A novel is a work of poetry. In order to write it, one must have tranquility of spirit and of impression. — A novel is a work of **poetry**. In order to **write** it, one must have tranquility of spirit and of impression.

There is no subject so old that something new cannot be said about it.

Don’t let us forget that the causes of human actions are usually immeasurably more complex and varied than our subsequent explanations of them.

Sarcasm the last refuge of modest and chaste-souled people when the privacy of their soul is coarsely and intrusively invaded. — Sarcasm: the last refuge of modest and chaste-souled people when the privacy of their soul is coarsely and intrusively invaded.

8 Thought-provoking Fyodor Dostoevsky Quotes About Life

The awful thing is that beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and the devil are fighting there and the battlefield is the heart of man.

Men do not accept their prophets and slay them, but they love their martyrs and worship those whom they have tortured to death.

If there is no God, everything is permitted.

Man is sometimes extraordinarily, passionately, in love with suffering... — Man is sometimes extraordinarily, **passionately**, in love with suffering…

Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it.

Life is paradise, and we are all in paradise, but we refuse to see it.

4 Fyodor Dostoevsky Quotes on Freedom

“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.”
Fyodor Dostoevsky