Great Throughts Treasury

"If I did not believe in life, if I were to lose faith in the woman I love, if I were to lose faith in the order of things, even if I were to become convinced, on the contrary, that everything is a disorderly, damned, and perhaps devilish chaos, if I were struck even by all the horrors of human disillusionment-still I would want to live, and as long as I have bent to this cup, I will not tear myself from it until I've drunk it all!"

"If i die what will become of them? ... What will become of them? ... Who would feed it and who would feed them all?"

"If I had a reader and he had read all I have written so far of my adventures, there would be certainly no need to inform him that I am not created for any sort of society. The trouble is I don't know how to behave in company. If I go anywhere among a great many people I always have a feeling as though I were being electrified by so many eyes looking at me. It positively makes me shrivel up, physically shrivel up, even in such places as the theatre, to say nothing of private houses. I did not know how to behave with dignity in these gambling saloons and assemblies; I either was still, inwardly upbraiding myself for my excessive mildness and politeness, or I suddenly got up and did something rude. And meanwhile all sorts of worthless fellows far inferior to me knew how to behave with wonderful aplomb-- and that's what really exasperated me above everything, so that I lost my self-possession more and more. I may say frankly, even at that time, if the truth is to be told, the society there, and even winning money at cards, had become revolting and a torture to me. Positively a torture. I did, of course, derive acute enjoyment from it, but this enjoyment was at the cost of torture."

"If I had to define man it would be: a biped, ungrateful."

"If I seem happy to you . . . You could never say anything that would please me more. For men are made for happiness, and anyone who is completely happy has a right to say to himself, 'I am doing God's will on earth.' All the righteous, all the saints, all the holy martyrs were happy."

"If in fact the man was not a coward, man taken together, put another way, the human race? This would mean that all the rest are merely prejudices, purely imaginary terrors and there are no limitations. This is how it should be!"

"If it had to be shame, then let it be shame; if it had to be disgrace, then let it be disgrace; if it had to be degradation, then let it be degradation--the worse the better!"

"If it were desired to reduce man to nothing, it would be necessary only to give his work a character of uselessness."

"If not reason, then the devil."

"If one has only one good memory left in one's heart, even that may sometimes be the means of saving us."

"If one waits for everyone to get wiser it will take too long."

"If only she could come to pass that everyone of us to describe everything about myself, but that does not narrow to express not only what we do not dare to say and nothing in the world will not tell people not only what we do not dare to tell even his closest friends, and even what you do not dare to admit sometimes to himself - then the world would spread such a stink that everyone will izdushim."

"If possible to reach all of us (and this is impossible by virtue of human nature) to disclose all his ideas, to disclose all these ideas without being afraid to make the people do just dare to say to one, not on what would dare to say to his best friend only but also on what is feared to be recognized sometimes for himself, came out of the ground antiseptic amount of rancidity they all Taknguena."

"If she had ordered me to throw myself down then, I would have done it! If she had said it only as a joke, said it with contempt, spitting on me--even then I would have jumped!"

"If she'd been lame or a hunchback I'd have probably fallen in love with her even more... Yes, it was a sort of spring fever."

"If Stavrogin believes, he does not believe that he believes. If he does not believe, he does not believe that he did not believe."

"If the devil does not exist, and man has therefore created him, he has created him in his own image and likeness."

"If the evil-doing of men moves you to indignation and overwhelming distress, even to a desire for vengeance on the evil-doers, shun above all things that feeling. Go at once and seek suffering for yourself, as though you were yourself guilty of that wrong. Accept that suffering and bear it and your heart will find comfort, and you will understand that you too are guilty, for you might have been a light to the evil-doers, even as the one man sinless, and you were not a light to them. If you had been a light, you would have lightened the path for others too, and the evil-doer might perhaps have been saved by your light from his sin. And even though your light was shining, yet you see men were not saved by it, hold firm and doubt not the power of the heavenly light. Believe that if they were not saved, they will be saved hereafter. And if they are not saved hereafter, then their sons will be saved, for your light will not die even when you are dead. The righteous man departs, but his light remains."

"If the owners souls sensitive, delicate, kind, a sort of stubbornness, in some cases, you see one of them will refuse to cross a person who loves his love, not only between people, but also in being alone more than among the people, and rarely get away from him courtesy, but that escaped were violent tidal strong, on as Anhbasha for a long time."

"If the suffering of children goes to swell the sum of sufferings which was necessary to pay for truth, then I protest that the truth is not worth such a price."

"If the wickedness of people arouses indignation and insurmountable grief in you, to the point that you desire to revenge yourself upon the wicked, fear that feeling most of all; go at once and seek torments for yourself, as if you yourself were guilty of their wickedness. Take these torments upon yourself and suffer them, and your heart will be eased, and you will understand that you, too, are guilty, for you might have shone to the wicked, even like the only sinless One, but you did not. If you had shone, your light would have lighted the way for others, and the one who did wickedness would perhaps not have done so in your light. And even if you do shine, but see that people are not saved even with your light, remain steadfast, and do not doubt the power of the heavenly light; believe that if they are not saved now, they will be saved later. And if they are not saved, their sons will be saved, for your light will not die, even when you are dead. The righteous man departs, but his light remains. People are always saved after the death of him who saved them. The generation of men does not welcome its prophets and kills them, but men love their martyrs and venerate those they have tortured to death. Your work is for the whole, your deed is for the future. Never seek a reward, for great is your reward on earth without that: your spiritual joy, which only the righteous obtain. Nor should you fear the noble and powerful, but be wise and ever gracious. Know measure, know the time, learn these things. When you are alone, pray. Love to throw yourself down on the earth and kiss it. Kiss the earth and love it, tirelessly, insatiable, love all men, love all things, seek this rapture and ecstasy. Water the earth with the tears of your joy, and love those tears. Do not be ashamed of this ecstasy, treasure it, for it is a gift from God, a great gift, and it is not given to many, but to those who are chosen."

"If there is God, then the will is all His and I cannot get out of his will. If not, the will is all mine, and it is my duty to proclaim self-will. Self-will? And why is it your duty? Because the will has all become mine. Can it be that no one on the whole planet, having ended God and believed in self-will, dares to proclaim self-will to the fullest point? It's as if a poor man received an inheritance, got scared, and doesn't dare go near the bag, thinking he's too weak to own it. I want to proclaim self-will. I may be the only one, but I'll do it. Do it, then. It is my duty to shoot myself because the fullest point of my self-will is--for me to kill myself...to kill someone else would be the lowest point of my self-will, and there's the whole of you in that. I am not you: I want the highest point, and will kill myself...It is my duty to proclaim unbelief, Kirillow was pacing the room. For me no idea is higher than that there is no God. The history of mankind is on my side. Man has done nothing but invent God, so as to live without killing himself; in that lies the whole of world history up to now. I alone for the first time in world history did not want to invent God. Let them know once and for all."

"If there is no God, everything is permitted."

"If there is no God, then I am God."

"If there really is someday discovered a formula for all our desires and caprices - that is, an explanation of what they depend upon, by what laws they arise, how they develop, what they are aiming at in one case and in another and so on, that is a real mathematical formula - then, most likely, man will at once cease to feel desire, indeed, he will be certain to. For who would want to choose by rule? Besides, he will at once be transformed from a human being into an organ-stop or something of that sort; for what is a man without desires, without freewill and without choice, if not a stop in an organ?"

"If they drive God from the earth, we shall shelter Him underground."

"If they knew that they are happy, they would be happy."

"If they say about you, that you, um ... that is what you are sick sometimes mind, that it is unfair, and I decided to argue, because even though you are really sick mind (you certainly do not get mad at it, I speak from the highest point), but then the chief mind you better than them all, so even what they never dreamed of, because there are two minds: the main or principal. So? It's so?"

"If we're to come to love a man, the man himself should stay hidden, because as soon as he shows his face--love vanishes."

"If you are angry, do not get angry ... because I know myself that others lived less and less all know in life."

"If you can put the question, 'Am I or am I not responsible for my acts?' then you are responsible."

"If you have any work, my sir, with my boots in torn and the torn my elbow?"

"If you like a man's laugh before you know anything of him, you may say with confidence that he is a good man."

"If you sin yourself and grieve even unto death for your sins or for your sudden sin, then rejoice for others, rejoice for the righteous man, rejoice that if you have sinned, he is righteous and has not sinned."

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

"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."

"I'll give you an example. Until now we have been told: Love your neighbor. Well, if I put this principle into practice, will result? As result they divide my coat in half, give half to my neighbor and we both will stay half naked."

"I'll tell it to end the world but I can always take my tea."

"I'm a Karamazov... when I fall into the abyss, I go straight into it, head down and heels up, and I'm even pleased that I'm falling in such a humiliating position, and for me I find it beautiful. And so in that very shame I suddenly begin a hymn. Let me be cursed, let me be base and vile, but let me also kiss the hem of that garment in which my God is clothed; let me be following the devil at the same time, but still I am also your son, Lord, and I love you, and I feel a joy without which the world cannot stand and be."

"I'm drunk but truthful."

"I'm glad some men sometimes, think, and do not know why you love, I'm glad some human endeavor in which you have long ceased to believe, and yet the habits of the heart appreciate."

"I'm not a coward. A coward is one who is afraid and running and I'm afraid, but do not run away."

"Imagine that you yourself are building the edifice of human destiny with the object of making people happy in the finale, of giving them peace and rest at last, but for that you must inevitably and unavoidably torture just one tiny creature, that same child who was beating her chest with her little fist, and raise your edifice on the foundation of her unrequited tears--would you agree to be the architect on such conditions?"

"In a morbid condition of the brain, dreams often have a singular actuality, vividness, and extraordinary semblance of reality. At times monstrous images are created, but the setting and the whole picture are so truth-like and filled with details so delicate, so unexpectedly, but so artistically consistent, that the dreamer, were he an artist like Pushkin or Turgenev even, could never have invented them in the waking state. Such sick dreams always remain long in the memory and make a powerful impression on the overwrought and deranged nervous system."

"In a morbid condition, dreams are often distinguished by their remarkably graphic, vivid, and extremely lifelike quality. The resulting picture is sometimes monstrous, but the setting and the whole process of the presentation sometimes happen to be so probable, and with details so subtle, unexpected, yet artistically consistent with the whole fullness of the picture, that even the dreamer himself would be unable to invent them in reality, though he were as much an artist as Pushkin or Turgenev. Such dreams, morbid dreams, are always long remembered and produce a strong impression on the disturbed and already excited organism of the person. Raskolnikov had a terrible dream."

"In all societies, and in time of doubt and uncertainty or confusion during the transition from the bottom of society are always colorful thugs… expressed violently. These thugs without their ever being aware that serve small groups under the leaders are pretty silly if they do not have a specific purpose (which is not to be less ) who want to mask the trash and carry it everywhere."

"In any case civilization has made mankind if not more bloodthirsty, at least more vilely, more loathsomely bloodthirsty."

"In any case, there is a certain awkwardness in him constantly whenever reaches an end. Try approaching the end, but as soon as you reach it, is no longer satisfied, and it truly is quite comical."

"In any great idea or new, or any idea as to how serious the springs at the head of a man, there is something that cannot communicate with each other even if you write volumes, striving you in many ways to explain this idea for thirty years will always remain a non-transferable, something that, despite your endeavors, I will not be in your box Iasi lies cranial and always there until you will not be expressed without having major purpose of your idea"

"In despair there are the most intense enjoyments, especially when one is very acutely conscious of the hopelessness of one's position."