This Side of Paradise

by F. Scott Fitzgerald

“It’s the whole thing,” he asserted. “It’s the one dividing line between good and evil. I’ve never met a man who led a rotten life and didn’t have a weak will.” “How about great criminals?” “They’re usually insane. If not, they’re weak. There is no such thing as a strong, sane criminal.” “Burne, I disagree with you altogether; how about the superman?” “Well?” “He’s evil, I think, yet he’s strong and sane.” “I’ve never met him. I’ll bet, though, that he’s stupid or insane.” “I’ve met him over and over and he’s neither. That’s why I think you’re wrong.” “I’m sure I’m not—and so I don’t believe in imprisonment except for the insane.” On this point Amory could not agree. It seemed to him that life and history were rife with the strong criminal, keen, but often self-deluding; in politics and business one found him and among the old statesmen and kings and generals; but Burne never agreed and their courses began to split on that point. Burne was drawing farther and farther away from the world about him. He resigned the vice-presidency of the senior class

Raskalnikov crime and punishment Dostoevsky