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
At such times I felt something was drawing me away, and I kept fancying that if I walked straight on, far, far away and reached that line where the sky and earth meet, there I should find the key to the mystery, there I should see a new life a thousand times richer and more turbulent than ours.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects a longing for deeper understanding and a richer experience of life.
Dostoevsky expresses a yearning for transcendence and exploration, suggesting that beyond our limited experience lies a profound mystery and vitality. It conveys the idea that the pursuit of knowledge and experience can lead to a more vibrant existence, igniting a desire to not just understand reality, but to truly live it in all its complexities.
Themes
MysteryLifeExperienceLongingUnderstanding
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion about existentialism in a philosophy class.
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, 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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Where misunderstanding serves others as an advantage, one is helpless to make oneself understood.
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