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
You sensed that you should be following a different path, a more ambitious one, you felt that you were destined for other things but you had no idea how to achieve them and in your misery you began to hate everything around you.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the struggle of feeling unfulfilled and the frustration that arises from not knowing how to pursue one's true ambitions.
In this quote, Dostoevsky captures the internal conflict of individuals who recognize their potential for a greater life yet feel trapped by their current circumstances. This sense of destiny can foster feelings of despair and anger when one lacks the clarity or means to follow a more meaningful path. The quote emphasizes the importance of acknowledging both the desire for ambition and the emotional turmoil that can accompany feelings of stagnation.
Themes
AmbitionDestinyStruggleFrustrationSelf-Discovery
In practice
Example use cases
To inspire students during a career day, highlighting the importance of pursuing their dreams.
More from Fyodor Dostoevsky
All quotes →What if, when this fog scatters and flies upward, the whole rotten, slimey city goes with it, rises with the fog and vanishes like smoke.
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Love the animals: God has given them the rudiments of thought and joy untroubled.
Fyodor DostoevskyRead
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.
Fyodor DostoevskyRead
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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