Lying to ourselves is more deeply ingrained than lying to others.
¶ "Celebrating a Lie"
Quotations by ...
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) Russian novelist
Much unhappiness has come into the world because of bewilderment and things left unsaid.
¶ (Attributed)
But men love abstract reasoning and neat systematization so much that they think nothing of distorting the truth, closing their eyes and ears to contrary evidence to preserve their logical constructions.
¶ (Attributed)
Originality and the feeling of one's own dignity are achieved only through work and struggle.
¶ Diary of a Writer (1877)
Every man has some reminiscences which he would not tell to everyone, but only to his friends. He has others which he would not reveal even to his friends, but only to himself, and that in secret. But finally there are still others which a man is even afraid to tell himself, and every decent man has a considerable number of such things stored away. That is, one can even say that the more decent he is, the greater the number of such things in his mind.
¶ Notes from the Underground (1864)
Man has such a predilection for systems and abstract deductions that he is ready to distort the truth intentionally, he is ready to deny the evidence of his senses only to justify his logic.
¶ Notes from the Underground (1864)
“Imagine that you are creating a fabric of human destiny with the object of making men happy in the end, giving them peace and rest at last, but that it was essential and inevitable to torture to death only one tiny creature — that baby beating its breast with its fist, for instance — and to found that edifice on its unavenged tears, would you consent to be the architect on those conditions? Tell me, and tell the truth.”
“No, I wouldn’t consent,” said Alyosha softly.
¶ The Brothers Karamazov, part 2, book 5, chapter 4 (1945) [Ivan]
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WIST is my collection of quotations I find meaningful, moving, amusing (intended or not), well-phrased, and/or to which I just say I "Wish I'd Said That." But just because I quote it here doesn't mean I actually agree with it. If you have any comments, corrections, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to
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