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
Man is a creative animal, doomed to strive toward a goal, engaged in full-time engineering.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Humans have an innate drive to create and work towards goals, reflecting their nature as imaginative beings.
In this quote, Dostoevsky suggests that creativity is inherent to humanity and that our existence is defined by a continuous pursuit of goals. This relentless striving shapes our identity and purpose, underscoring the idea that engagement in creation and problem-solving is a fundamental aspect of being human.
Themes
CreativityGoalsHuman NatureExistenceStriving
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about pursuing passions, one might say, 'Remember, as Dostoevsky noted, we are all creative animals striving toward our goals.'
More from Fyodor Dostoevsky
All quotes βWhat if, when this fog scatters and flies upward, the whole rotten, slimey city goes with it, rises with the fog and vanishes like smoke.
Fyodor DostoevskyRead
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
Similar quotes
Man is a degeneration of what he was.
Swami VivekanandaRead
While you have a thing it can be taken from youβ¦..but when you give it, you have given it. no robber can take it from you. It is yours then forever when you have given it. It will be yours always. That is to give.
James JoyceRead
But there is in everything a reasonable division of labour. I have written the book, and nothing on earth would induce me to read it.
Gilbert K. ChestertonRead
But yet I'll make assurance double sure, and take a bond of fate: thou shalt not live.
William ShakespeareRead
Texas will again lift it's head and stand among the nations. It ought to do so, for no country upon the globe can compare with it in natural advantages.
Sam HoustonRead
Among the basic freedoms to which men aspire that their lives might be full and uncramped, freedom from fear stands out as both a means and an end. A people who would build a nation in which strong, democratic institutions are firmly established as a guarantee against state-induced power must first learn to liberate their own minds from apathy and fear.
Aung San Suu KyiRead