Authors / Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Dostoevsky quotes

1821–1881 · Russian novelist

Dostoevsky's characters argue about God, guilt and freedom at full volume. Remember that a line from a novel is a character speaking, not necessarily the author.

4 real · 2 not theirs

Really theirs

4 quotes traced to Fyodor Dostoevsky's own work or a reliable witness.

Sourced
Beauty will save the world.
Source: The Idiot, Part 3 (1869) — Ippolit repeating Prince Myshkin, half-mockingly
Sourced
Above all, don't lie to yourself.
Source: The Brothers Karamazov, Book 2, ch. 2 (1880) — Father Zosima
Sourced
Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart.
Source: Crime and Punishment, Part 3, ch. 5 (1866)
Sourced
To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's.
Source: Crime and Punishment, Part 3, ch. 1 (1866) — Razumikhin

Not theirs

2 famous lines credited to Fyodor Dostoevsky that are misquoted, unsourced or belong to someone else.

Misquoted
If there is no God, everything is permitted.

The real words: A summary of Ivan Karamazov's argument as other characters report it. The exact sentence is not in the novel.

No source found
The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.

The trail: Usually credited to The House of the Dead, but the sentence itself has not been found there.