The Brothers Karamazov: A Novel in Four Parts With Epilogue

by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Alyosha: “Love life more than its meaning.”

the more I love mankind in general, the less I love people in particular,

When man believes he can define good and evil without reference to the divine, the State eventually becomes his god.

the science of this world, having united itself into a great force, has, especially in the past century, examined everything heavenly that has been bequeathed

to us in sacred books, and, after hard analysis, the learned ones of this world have absolutely nothing left of what was once holy. But they have examined parts and missed the whole, and their blindness is even worthy of wonder.

It’s still possible to love one’s neighbor abstractly, and even occasionally from a distance, but hardly ever up close.

man seeks not so much God as miracles.