Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth.
Fyodor DostoevskyRead
Anyone who can appease a man's conscience can take his freedom away from him.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that one's moral awareness can be manipulated, leading to a loss of freedom.
Dostoevsky's quote highlights the complex relationship between conscience and freedom. It implies that if someone can influence or control an individual's moral compass, they can ultimately dominate their actions and choices, stripping away their autonomy. This serves as a cautionary reminder of the power beliefs and guilt hold over individuals, suggesting that true freedom requires an untainted conscience.
Themes
FreedomConscienceControlAutonomyMorality
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about personal responsibility and ethics, one might quote Dostoevsky to illustrate the importance of a clear conscience.
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Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love.
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But do you understand, I cry to him, do you understand that if you have the guillotine in the forefront, and with such glee, it's for the sole reason that cutting heads off is the easiest thing, and having an idea is difficult!
Fyodor DostoevskyRead
...to return to their 'native soil,' as they say, to the bosom, so to speak, of their mother earth, like frightened children, yearning to fall asleep on the withered bosom of their decrepit mother, and to sleep there for ever, only to escape the horrors that terrify them.
Fyodor DostoevskyRead
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