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
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!
Interpretation
What this quote means
Dostoevsky highlights the ease of enacting violence over the struggle of developing complex ideas.
In this quote, Dostoevsky contrasts the simplicity of executing brutal actions, such as using a guillotine, with the intellectual and emotional challenges involved in forming and understanding profound ideas. He suggests that human tendencies often favor immediate and violent solutions rather than the more arduous path of thoughtful consideration and innovation.
Themes
ViolenceIdeasStruggleIntellectHuman Nature
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a debate about the importance of peaceful dialogue over violent solutions.
More from Fyodor Dostoevsky
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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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...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.
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Power is only vouchsafed to the man who dares to stoop and pick it up. There is only one thing, one thing needful: one has only to dare!
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