A novel is a work of poetry. In order to write it, one must have tranquility of spirit and of impression.

— Fyodor Dostoevsky

A real gentleman, even if he loses everything he owns, must show no emotion. Money must be so far beneath a gentleman that it is hardly worth troubling about.

— Fyodor Dostoevsky

Beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and devil are fighting there, and the battlefield is the heart of man.

— Fyodor Dostoevsky

Deprived of meaningful work, men and women lose their reason for existence; they go stark, raving mad.

— Fyodor Dostoevsky

Happiness does not lie in happiness, but in the achievement of it.

— Fyodor Dostoevsky

If there is no God, everything is permitted.

— Fyodor Dostoevsky

Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it.

— Fyodor Dostoevsky

Men do not accept their prophets and slay them, but they love their martyrs and worship those whom they have tortured to death.

— Fyodor Dostoevsky

Power is given only to those who dare to lower themselves and pick it up. Only one thing matters, one thing; to be able to dare!

— Fyodor Dostoevsky

Realists do not fear the results of their study.

— Fyodor Dostoevsky