Quote of the Day (Fyodor Dostoevsky, on ‘The Man Who Lies to Himself’)

“Above all, don't lie to yourself. 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. And having no respect he ceases to love, and in order to occupy and distract himself without love he gives way to passions and coarse pleasures, and sinks to bestiality in his vices, all from continual lying to other men and to himself. The man who lies to himself can be more easily offended than anyone. You know it is sometimes very pleasant to take offence, 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 offence, and will revel in his resentment till he feels great pleasure in it, and so pass to genuine vindictiveness.”— Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1880), The Brothers Karamazov (1880), translated by Constance Garnett

Quote of the Day (Fyodor Dostoevsky, on Hell and Love)

“What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love.” ― Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (1880)

Death came for the Russian novelist, journalist, and short-story writer Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) 135 years ago today in St. Petersburg. He had expected it at least for a while—not just in the years 1864 and 1865, when his brother and first wife died, but even as far back as December 1849, when his imprisonment for involvement in revolutionary activities resulted in a terrifyingly realistic mock execution. (I recounted this incident in this post.)

Even if the “New Atheism” preached by Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and Daniel Dennett passes from vogue to overwhelming approval, I doubt if Dostoevsky’s brand of Christian fiction will lose its power over readers. His faith derived not from logical Thomistic axioms but from a mind in torment. Losses, personal and financial (resulting from a longtime gambling addiction), assured that.

Henry James griped that the Russian’s works were “baggy monsters” of literary construction, but both men brought to the 19^th century novel unprecedented levels of psychological realism. Moreover, both featured manias and altered states of consciousness.

It might be said that, by Dostoevsky’s definition, the American and the Russian alike dealt with hell. James’ novella “The Beast in the Jungle” examines a man who, through his belief that he is marked for a special fate, closes himself off from the love that could save him. Dostoevsky’s work—especially his two most famous novels, Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov—focus on the isolating impact of despair and the hard-won redemption achieved through Christian love.

Quote of the Day (Fyodor Dostoevsky, on the ‘Mystery of Human Existence’)

"For the mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for. Without a concrete idea of what he is living for, man would refuse to live, would rather exterminate himself than remain on earth, even though everywhere around him was bread." ― Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (1880)

Quote of the Day (Fyodor Dostoevsky, Defining Hell)

“What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love.” ― Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (1880)

Quote of the Day (Dostoevsky, on Lying to Yourself)

“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 Brothers Karazamov (1880)

Quote of the Day (Fyodor Dostoyevsky, on Christ and a ‘Higher Ideal’)

“Even those who have renounced Christianity and attack it, in their inmost being still follow the Christian ideal, for hitherto neither their subtlety nor the ardor of their hearts has been able to create a higher ideal of man and of virtue than the ideal given by Christ.”— Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (1880)