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
And you're sorry that the ephemeral beauty has faded so rapidly, so irretrievably, that it flashed so deceptively and pointlessly before your eyes - you're sorry, for you didn't even have time to fall in love.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses regret over the fleeting nature of beauty and the missed opportunity for love.
In this quote, Dostoevsky conveys a deep sense of sorrow for the transient beauty that one encounters, highlighting how quickly it can disappear without giving one the chance to truly appreciate it or engage in love. The lamentation over beauty fading 'rapidly' and 'irretrievably' speaks to the human experience of recognizing fleeting moments that never return, leaving a longing for what could have been.
Themes
BeautyRegretLoveTransienceEphemeral
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a reflective article about the nature of relationships.
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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