The Brothers Karamazov

by Fyodor Dostoevsky

What can become of him if he is in such bondage to the habit of satisfying the innumerable desires he has created for himself? He is isolated, and what concern has he with the rest of humanity? They have succeeded in accumulating a greater mass of objects, but the joy in the world has grown less.

They, following science, want to base justice on reason alone, but not with Christ, as before, and they have already proclaimed that there is no crime, that there is no sin.

Equality is to be found only in the spiritual dignity of man, and that will only be understood among us.

clothes." But what taught me better then was a thought of my dear brother's, which I had heard from him in childhood: "Am I worth it,

that another should serve me and be ordered about by me in his poverty and ignorance?"

It is impossible that there should be no servants in the world, but act so that your servant may be freer in spirit than if he were not a servant. And why cannot I be a servant to my servant and even let him see it, and that without any pride on my part or any mistrust on his? Why should not my servant be like my own kindred, so that I may take him into my family and rejoice in doing so? Even now this can be done, but it will lead to the grand unity of men in the future, when a man will not seek servants for himself, or desire to turn his fellow creatures into servants

"The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone of the building."

Man, do not pride yourself on superiority to the animals; they are without sin, and you, with your greatness, defile the earth by your appearance on it, and leave the traces of your foulness after you- alas, it is true of almost every one of us!

Men reject their prophets and slay them, but they love their martyrs and honour those whom they have slain.

"men love the downfall and disgrace of the righteous,"

entirely forgotten his brother Dmitri, about whom he had been so

yet to the very end he persisted in hoping that he would get that three thousand, that the money would somehow come to him of itself, as though it might drop from heaven. That is just how it is with people who, like Dmitri, have never had anything to do with money, except to

squander what has come to them by inheritance without any effort of their own, and have no notion how money is obtained.

And perhaps to men of that kind in such circumstances the most impossible, fantastic schemes occur first, and seem most practical.

"How strange it is! On the way here it seemed all right, and now it's nothing but nonsense."

mind to and overlook, and what they can forgive! The jealous are the readiest of all to forgive, and all women know it. The jealous man can forgive extraordinarily quickly (though, of course, after a violent scene), and he is able to forgive infidelity almost conclusively proved, the very kisses and embraces he has seen, if only he can somehow be convinced that it has all been "for the last

and that his rival will vanish from that day forward, will depart to the ends of the earth, or that he himself will carry her away somewhere, where that dreaded rival will not get near her.

And, as we all know, one can't take a step without money.

"I punish myself for my whole life; my whole life I punish!"

Then everything was over: he had lost her, given her up. She was gone, for him- oh, then his death sentence had been easier for him; at least it had seemed necessary, inevitable, for what had he to stay on earth for?

Did I love him or only my own anger?

It was through spite I tormented you all. It was for spite I drove the old man out of his mind…

God Himself with such questions. 'How did you step? Where did you step? When did you step? And on what did you step?'

he evidently overcame his shame in order to tell the truth. The

almost ready to believe himself that he was inferior to them, and that now they had a perfect right to despise him.

They were very dirty, and so were his underclothes, and now everyone could

see it. And what was worse, he disliked his feet.

He particularly loathed the coarse, flat, crooked nail on the right one, and now they would all see it. Feeling intolerably ashamed made h...

as he put them on, that the clothes were much better than his old ones, and that he disliked "gaining by the change."

that's why I fought in the tavern, that's why I attacked my father, it was because I felt I was a thief.

But many quite irrelevant and inappropriate thoughts sometimes occur even to a prisoner when he is being led out to execution.

There's nothing funny in nature, however funny it may seem to man with his prejudices. If dogs could reason and criticise us they'd be sure to find just as much that would be funny to them, if not far more, in the social relations of men, their masters- far more, indeed.

could see that it was not so much that he disagreed with the ideas, but that he was simply rebelling against me, because I was cool in responding to his endearments.

was stupid of me not to come and forgive him- that is, to make it up with him- when he was taken ill. I am sorry for it now. But I had a special reason.

no; there are people of deep feeling who have been somehow crushed.

Buffoonery in them is a form of resentful irony against those to whom they daren't speak the truth, from having been for years humiliated and intimidated by them.

to Ilusha, without "sheepish sentimentality," appearing to do so casually and without design. It was a great consolation to Ilusha in his suffering.

at the thought that his boy might be dying, forgot his pride and humbly accepted her assistance.

"Yes, universal history! It's the study of the successive follies of mankind and nothing more.

"When you are older, you'll understand for yourself the influence of age on convictions.

He would be found in the ranks of the revolutionists, and would perhaps play a conspicuous part… . There's no doubt about that."

if there were no God He would have to be invented,

Besides, nearly all clever people now are fearfully afraid of being ridiculous, and that makes them unhappy.

so he attacked me, to make out I am in fault first and to throw it all on me. 'You

but I don't respect you. If I respected you, I shouldn't talk to you without shame, should I?"

"Yes, I want disorder. I keep wanting to set fire to the house.

"Yes, yes! You have uttered my thought; they love crime, everyone loves crime, they love it always, not at some 'moments.' You know,

it's as though people have made an agreement to lie about it and have lied about it ever since.

but philosophers; for all true Russians are philosophers, and

"'In order to determine this question, it is above all essential to put one's personality in contradiction to one's reality.' Do you understand that?" "No, I don't," said Alyosha. He looked at Mitya and listened