The Brothers Karamazov

by Fyodor Dostoevsky

that the absurd is only too necessary on earth.

The world stands on absurdities, and perhaps nothing would have come to pass in it without them. We know what we know!" "What do you know?"

If I try to understand anything, I shall be false to the fact, and I have determined to stick to the fact."

that cause follows effect simply and directly, and that I know it?-

I must have justice, or I will destroy myself.

And not justice in some remote infinite time and space, but here on earth, and ...

What good can hell do, since those children have already been tortured? And what becomes of harmony, if there is hell? I want to forgive.

I don't want harmony. From love for humanity I don't want it. I would rather be left with the unavenged suffering.

and the freedom of their faith was dearer to Thee than anything in those days fifteen hundred years

"I will make you free"? But now Thou hast seen these "free" men,' the old man adds suddenly, with a pensive smile. 'Yes, we've paid dearly for it,' he goes on, looking sternly at Him, 'but at last we have completed that work in Thy name.

Man was created a rebel; and how can rebels be happy?

what is that freedom worth if obedience is bought with bread?

Thou didst reply that man lives not by bread alone. But

will proclaim by the lips of their sages that there is no crime, and therefore no sin; there is only hunger? "Feed

No science will give them bread so long as they remain free. In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet, and say to us, "Make us your slaves, but feed us."

And if for the sake of the bread of Heaven thousands shall follow Thee, what is to become of the millions and tens of thousands of millions of creatures who will not have the strength to forego the earthly bread for the sake of the heavenly?

to endure the freedom which they have found so dreadful and to rule over them- so awful it will seem to them to be free.

But we shall tell them that we are Thy servants and rule them in Thy name.

We shall deceive them again, for we will not let Thee come to us again. That deception will be our suffering,...

For the sake of common worship they've slain each other with the sword.

I tell Thee that man is tormented by no greater anxiety than to find someone quickly to whom he can hand over that gift of freedom with which the ill-fated creature is born. But

For the secret of man's being is not only to live but to have something to live for. Without

a stable conception of the object of life, man would not consent to go on living, and would rather destroy himself than remain on earth, though he had bread in abundance.

ever! Didst Thou forget that man prefers peace, and even death, to freedom of choice in the knowledge of good and

There are three powers, three powers alone, able to conquer and to hold captive for ever the conscience of these impotent rebels for their happiness those forces are miracle, mystery and authority.

miracle. But Thou didst not know that when man rejects miracle he rejects God too; for man seeks not so much God as the miraculous.

Thou didst not come down, for again Thou wouldst not enslave man by a miracle, and didst crave faith given freely, not based on miracle.

Thou didst crave for free love and not the base raptures of the slave before the might that has overawed him for ever.

They are little children rioting and barring out the teacher at school. But their childish delight will end; it will cost them dear. Mankind as a whole has always striven to organise a universal state. There have been many great nations with great histories, but the more highly they were developed the more unhappy they were, for they felt more acutely than other people the craving for world-wide union. The great conquerors,

Khans, whirled like hurricanes over the face of the earth striving to subdue its people, and they too were but the unconscious expression of the same craving for universal unity.

We have taken the sword of Caesar, and in taking it, of course, have rejected Thee and followed him. Oh, ages are yet to come of the confusion

of free thought, of their science and cannibalism.

my joy, believe me, everyone is really responsible to all men for all men and for everything.

Indeed, precious memories may remain even of a bad home, if only the heart knows how to find what is precious.

And what is the use of Christ's words, unless we set an example? The people is lost without the Word of God,

Here I have for once in my life acted sincerely and, well, you all look upon me as a madman. Though you are friendly to me, yet, you see, you all laugh at me."

So prone is the man of the world to be ashamed of any righteous action.

"From that you can see for yourself," I concluded, "that at the time of the duel it was easier for me, for I had made a beginning already at home, and when once I had started on that road, to go farther along it was far from being difficult, but became a source of joy and happiness."

To transform the world, to recreate it afresh, men must turn into another path psychologically.

it will come to pass, but first we have to go though the period of isolation."

For everyone strives to keep his individuality as apart as possible, wishes to secure the greatest possible fullness of life for himself; but meantime all his efforts result not in attaining fullness of life but self-destruction, for instead of self-realisation he ends by arriving at complete solitude. All

But, until then, we must keep the banner flying. Sometimes even if he has to do it alone, and his conduct seems to be crazy, a man must set an example, and so draw men's souls out of their solitude, and spur them to some act of brotherly love, that the great idea may not die."

But, as often happens, a crime committed with extraordinary audacity is more successful than others.

But the more he was respected, the more intolerable it was for him.

began indeed to believe in the truth of his story, and they visited me and questioned me with great interest and eagerness, for man loves to see the downfall and disgrace of the righteous.

"You have desires and so satisfy them, for you have the same rights as the most rich and powerful. Don't be afraid of satisfying them and even multiply your desires." That is the modern doctrine of the world. In that they see freedom. And what follows from this right of multiplication of desires? In the rich, isolation and spiritual suicide; in the poor, envy and murder; for they have been given rights, but have not been shown the means of satisfying their wants.

Alas, put no faith in such a bond of union. Interpreting freedom as the multiplication and rapid satisfaction of desires, men distort their own nature, for many senseless and foolish desires and habits and ridiculous fancies are fostered in them.

They live only for mutual envy, for luxury and ostentation. To have dinners visits, carriages, rank, and slaves to wait on one is looked upon as a necessity, for which life, honour and human feeling are sacrificed, and men even commit suicide if they are unable to satisfy it.

We see the same thing among those who are not rich, while the poor drown their unsatisfied need a...

knew one "champion of freedom" who told me himself that, when he was deprived of tobacco in prison, he was so wretched at the privation that he almost went and betrayed his cause for the sake of getting tobacco again! And such a man says, "I am fighting for the cause of humanity."