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
originality and a feeling of one's own dignity are achieved only through work and struggle.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True originality and self-respect come from hard work and overcoming challenges.
This quote by Fyodor Dostoevsky emphasizes that originality and a strong sense of self-worth are not simply given but are earned through effort and the difficulties one faces. It highlights the value of perseverance, suggesting that the struggles we endure shape our identity and contribute to our true creative expression.
Themes
OriginalityDignityWorkStruggleEffort
In practice
Example use cases
During a graduation speech about the importance of hard work.
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
Kindness is more important than wisdom, and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom.
Theodore Isaac RubinRead
Talent is a gift that brings with it an obligation to serve the world, and not ourselves, for it is not of our making.
Jose MartiRead
Then she told me why a tiger is gold and black. It has two ways. The gold side leaps with its fierce heart. The black side stands still with cunning, hiding its gold between the trees, seeing and not being seen, waiting patiently for things to come. I did not learn to use my black side until after the bad man left me.
Amy TanRead
I have been in Sorrow's kitchen and licked out all the pots. Then I have stood on the peaky mountain wrapped in rainbows, with a harp and sword in my hands.
Zora Neale HurstonRead
Fools!" said the man, stamping his foot with rage. "That is the sort of talk that brought me here, and I'd better have been drowned or never born. Do you hear what I say? This is where dreams β dreams, do you understand β come to life, come real. Not daydreams: dreams.
C. S. LewisRead
Psychiatry is a strange field because, unlike any other field of medicine, you never really finish. Your greatest instrument is you, yourself, and the work of self-understanding is endless. I'm still learning.
Irvin D. YalomRead