Introspection Quotes

“I am convinced that I could live my whole life as a monk, despite the sweet animal carnality with which I am endowed, and which I have always managed to summon up.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, Demons

“what, for instance, were you telling me about charity? And yet the gratification derived from giving charity is an arrogant and immoral tell nothing gratification, the gratification a rich man takes in his riches, his power, and the comparison he makes between his importance and the importance of a poor man. Charity corrupts both the one who gives it and the one who receives it, and furthermore, it doesn't achieve its goal, because it only intensifies poverty. Lazy people who don't want to work throng around people who give, like gamblers around the gambling table, hoping to win. And meanwhile, the pitiful coins that are tossed their way Such trivial are insufficient for even a hundredth of what they need. Have you given away much in your lifetime? Perhaps eighty kopecks, no more, if you stop and think about it. Just try to remember the last time you gave something; it would be a good two years go, and perhaps four. You're just making a lot of noise and impeding the cause. In today's society charity should definitely be prohibited by law. In the new social order there will be no such thing as poor people.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, Demons

“I'm not obliged to give you any accounting, and you can't understand my ideas. I want to take my life because that's my idea, because I don't want to be afraid of death, because... because it's none of your business...”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, Demons

“From under her relentless hatred of you, which is sincere and absolute, shines love at every moment and... madness... the most sincere and boundless love, and - madness! Conversely, from under the love she feels for me, also sincerely, there shines hatred at every moment - the greatest hatred! Until now I could never have imagined all these "metamorphoses".”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, Demons

“Will you shoot yourself while we're getting married?'
'No, much later. Why soil her wedding gown with my blood? Maybe I won't shoot myself at all, neither now, nor later”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, Demons

“I saw that he couldn't get along without me now, and I wouldn't have abandoned him for anything in the world. I stayed, and we remained sitting for two hours and more.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, Demons

“...complete atheism is more respectable than secular indifference. The complete atheist stands on the next-to-last highest rung leading to the fullest and most complete faith (he may take that step, or he may not), but the indifferent man has no faith at all, except an ugly fear.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, Demons

“Every situation in my life in which I have ever happened to find myself, however unspeakably shameful, utterly degrading, vile and, most importantly, ridiculous, has always aroused both boundless anger and unbelievable pleasure in me.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, Demons

“Do you know, do you know that mankind can still continue to live without the Englishman, can continue without Germany, can continue all too well without the Russian, can continue without science, can continue without bread - it is only without beauty that we cannot continue, for there will be nothing at all to do in the world! That's where the whole secret lies, that's where the whole of history lies! Science itself would not last a minute without beauty - do you know about that, you who are laughing now? - it would turn into loutishness, you wouldn't even be able to invent the nail!”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, Demons

“I swear, I loved you less yesterday. Why, then, are you trying to take everything away from me today? Do you know what it's cost me, this fresh hope? I've paid for it with a life.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, Demons

“If people are deprived of what is immeasurably great, they will cease to live and will die in despair.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, Demons

“This strong and rough man, whose feathers were constantly being ruffled, had suddenly softened and brightened. Something unusual and entirely unexpected had begun to stir in his soul. Three years of separation, three years of a broken marriage had dislodged nothing from his heart. And perhaps every day of those three years he had dreamed of her, of the beloved being who had once said 'I love you' to him. Knowing Shatov, I can say for certain that he would never have allowed himself even to dream that any woman could say 'I love you' to him. He was fiercely chaste and modest, regarded himself as a dreadful freak, hated his own face and character, compared himself to some monster who was fit only to be taken around and exhibited at fairs. As a consequence of all this, he valued honesty above all things and dedicated himself to his convictions to the point of fanaticism; he was sullen, proud, quick to anger and sparing with words.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, Demons

“This strong and rough man, whose feathers were constantly being ruffled, had suddenly softened and brightened. Something unusual and entirely unexpected had begun to stir in his soul. Three years of separation, three years of a broken marriage had dislodged nothing from his heart. And perhaps every day of those three years he had dreamed of her, of the beloved being who had once said 'I love you' to him. Knowing Shatov, I can say for certain that he would never have allowed himself even to dream that any woman could say 'I love you' to him. He was fiercely chaste and modest, regarded himself as a dreadful freak, hated his own face and character, compared himself to some monster who was fit only to be taken around and exhibited at fairs. As a consequence of all this, he valued honesty above all things and dedicated himself to his convictions to the point of fanaticism; he was sullen, proud, quick to anger and sparing with words. But now this single being who had loved him for two weeks (he had always, always believed that!), this being whom he had always regarded as immeasurably superior to himself despite his utterly sober understanding of her faults; this being whom he could forgive everything, everything (of which there really true, so that in his eyes he himself was guilty of everything could be absolutely no before her), this woman, this Marya Shatova, was suddenly question, for just the opposite was actual again in his house, before him again... this was almost impossible to understand!”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, Demons

“There are seconds - they come only five or six at a time- when you suddenly feel the presence of an eternal harmony that has been fully attained. This is not something earthly. I'm not saying that it's heavenly, but that man in his earthly form cannot endure it. He must change physically or else die. It is a clear and unambiguous feeling. It's as if you suddenly have a sense of nature as a whole, and you suddenly say: yes, this is true. God, when he was creating the world, said at the end of each day of creation: "Yes, this is true, this is good." This... this is not deep emotion, but is simply joy. You don't forgive anything, because there's no longer anything to forgive. You don't really love - oh, this is higher than love! If it lasts longer than five seconds, your soul can't endure it and must disappear. In these five seconds I live an entire lifetime, and for them I will give my entire life, because it's worth it. In order to endure ten seconds, one must change physically. I think that man should stop giving birth. Why have children, why have evolution if the goal has been attained? In the Gospels it is said that in the resurrection there will be no childbirth, but all will be like God's angels. It's a hint. Is your wife giving birth?”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, Demons

“I've always been surprised that everyone goes on living.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, Demons

“You ape, you're teasing me so as to get the better of me. Shut up, you can't understand anything. If there is no God, then l am God.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, Demons

“You ape, you're teasing me so as to get the better of me. Shut up, you can't understand anything. If there is no God, then l am God.
You know, I never was able to understand this particular point of yours: why should you be God?'
If God exists, then all will is his, and I can't escape his will. If he does not exist, then all will is mine, and I am obliged to proclaim self-will.
'Self-will? And why are you obliged?'
'Because all will has become mine. Can it really be that no one on this entire planet, once having put an end to God and having developed a belief in self-will, will dare to proclaim self-will, in the fullest possible sense? It's like a poor man who's received an inheritance and is frightened by it and doesn't dare come near the bag full of money, regarding himself as too feeble to possess it. I want to proclaim self-will. Even if I'm the only one, I'll do it.'
'So go ahead and do it.'
I am obliged to shoot myself because my self-will in the fullest possible sense for me is to kill myself.
"But look, you're not the only one to kill yourself; there are many suicides."
"With good reason. But to do it without any reason, solely for self-will, I'm the only one.'
'You know what,' he observed irritably, "if I were in your place, to show self-will I would kill someone else, and not myself. You could become useful. I'll show you who, if you're not afraid. Then perhaps you won't have to shoot yourself today. We could reach an understanding."
"To kill someone else would be the lowest point of my self-will, and that's where you reveal who you are completely. I'm not you: I want the highest point, and I'll kill myself."
'He's worked this out all by himself,' Pyotr Stepanovich muttered angrily.
I am obliged to proclaim disbelief,' Kirillov was walking about the room. 'For me there is no higher idea than the non- existence of God. Human history is behind me. Man has done nothing but invent God in order to live without killing himself; that's the essence of world history to this point. I am the only one in world history who hasn't felt like inventing God for the allow first time. Let people find that out once and for all.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, Demons

“Kirillov remained silent.
'You know what, in my opinion, your belief is even stronger than a priest's.'
In whom? In Him? Listen.' Kirillov stopped pacing, and stared straight before him with a fixed and ecstatic look. 'Listen to a great idea. There was a certain day on earth, and in the centre of the earth stood three crosses. One man on a cross believed to such an extent that he said to another: "Today you will be with me in paradise." The day ended, both died, they went and they found nothing - neither paradise nor resurrection. What had been said proved unjustified. Listen: this man was the highest on the entire earth, he comprised that which allowed it to live. The entire planet, with everything on it, is nothing but madness without that man. There has never been one like Him, either before or after, even by virtue of a miracle. The miracle is that there never has been nor will there be another such man, ever. And if that's so, if the laws of nature didn't spare even This One, didn't even spare his miracle, but compelled even Him to live amidst a lie and to die for a lie, then it follows that the entire planet is a lie and rests on a lie and on a stupid joke. It follows that the very laws of the planet are a lie and a farce put on by the Devil. What's there to live for, answer me, if you are a man?”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, Demons

“All fiction offers up the possibility of escape from everyday life, but great fiction allows us to explore what we otherwise look away from.”
― Agnes Callard, Open Socrates: The Case for a Philosophical Life

“Not all of your thoughts are equally significant to who you are.”
― Agnes Callard, Open Socrates: The Case for a Philosophical Life

“We are unable to think about the most important things on our own.”
― Agnes Callard, Open Socrates: The Case for a Philosophical Life

“In the shadow of success, it's easy to lose sight of who you are. The brighter the spotlight, the darker the corners where your true self hides.”
― Lawrence Nault - The Mountain Hermit

“Imagine for a moment that within your mind sits a grand council table, and around it gather a pantheon of gods.”
― Kevin L. Michel, The Council of Gods

“Understanding this inner council is the first step to self‑mastery.”
― Kevin L. Michel, The Council of Gods

“In the reverberations of their shouts and whispers, we recognize our own internal struggle.”
― Kevin L. Michel, The Council of Gods

“We carry within us a multiplicity - we are not one voice, but many.”
― Kevin L. Michel, The Council of Gods

“Each blank page is an invitation to write; filling the space, however, is a challenge.”
― Paulo Ricardo Zargolin

“Brilliant minds, though brimming with feeling, often remain silent — not from coldness, but out of sheer elegance.”
― Paulo Ricardo Zargolin

“Generally, the silence offered by others says everything we refuse to hear.”
― Paulo Ricardo Zargolin

“The connection that brings us closer to others is the same that can distance us from ourselves...”
― Paulo Ricardo Zargolin