9 Phrases Of The Genius Fyodor Dostoyevsky

There are many great writers throughout history, but if there is a universal classical author who has marked the history of literature, that is undoubtedly Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Among the classical Russian authors considered geniuses, he is the one who has had the most influence and his works are still considered absolute masterpieces difficult to surpass today due to their subject matter and his absolute mastery of rhythm and form when writing.

Virginia Woolf came to wonder ” if it was really worth reading another author  ” and her influence was direct on contemporary authors such as Herman Hesse, Fran Kafka, Gabriel García Márquez or Yukio Mishima. He may have been one of the most influential authors in history along with Victor Hugo, William Shakespeare or Miguel de Cervantes.

The exquisiteness of his novels (Crime and Punishment, The Idiot or The Karamázov Brothers); it resides in his incredible way of portraying human psychology, with all its existential anguish and dilemmas.

A good way to approach this great writer is to analyze some of his sentences, putting them in relation to the meaning they had for his life and his vision of the world:

1. “The degree of civilization of a society is measured by the treatment of its prisoners”

The writer was sentenced to death for his revolutionary ideas as a young man, but his sentence was commuted at the last moment; although in return he had to spend 5 years doing forced labor in a Siberian labor camp.

During this time in prison, his health suffered (he suffered from epilepsy and his seizures worsened) and he suffered a psychological ordeal that even for him was difficult to describe. There he met prisoners convicted of all kinds of crimes, and realized that everyone could redeem themselves and find a better meaning for their life.

2. “The secret of human existence is not only living, but also knowing what to live for”

With this phrase Dostoyeski highlights the reason for his influence on later existentialist authors. The search for the meaning of men’s lives will be configured according to the circumstances that are encountered and how they react to them.

3. “On our planet we can only love by suffering and through pain. We do not know how to love in any other way nor do we know any other kind of love “

Dostoyevsky spent a brutal childhood since his father was a well-known but absolutely despot doctor; and her mother was pure warmth and tenderness. The loss of his brother, his mother and the murder of his father by his employees plunged the writer into a depression.

All subsequent sentimental relationships were marked by that suffering inherent to the writer but also by his natural condition as a passionate man. Through pain, he came to feel love for others, for his profession, and sometimes for himself.

That is why his life and work are exciting, because he gave himself to life to know it from within and then have a much more truthful and interesting mystical vision of it.

7. “It is the uncertainty that one loves, everything becomes wonderful in the haze”

The idea of ​​uncertainty in the lives of men is exposed on numerous occasions in his works. It explains how human beings are left to their own devices and with a thousand paths to choose from before their eyes, but the dilemmas derived from difficult and contradictory choices are those that will shape the spirit of each person until they can find themselves.

8. “Poverty and misery shape the artist”

The economic problems of the writer occurred throughout his entire existence: his gambling and his more bourgeois revelries in Europe (on the one hand he had admiration for this continent and on the other a deep suspicion); they caused that it never had a stable economy. Perhaps that need and feeling of guilt sharpened his wits when it came to writing.

9. “A moment of bliss, isn’t it enough for a lifetime?”

Dostoyevsky was a hopeless pessimist, but he thought that any bland and unhappy existence could be illuminated for a happy moment and give meaning to a whole life. Life has meaning if we know how to recognize these moments and keep them for our soul as the greatest treasure.