Avdotya Romanovna Raskolnikov Quotes

With my rags I ought to wear a cap, any sort of old pancake, but not this grotesque thing.

“If I am so scared now, what would it be if it somehow came to pass that I were really going to do it?”

“It’s in the houses of spiteful old widows that one finds such cleanliness,”

“What filthy things my heart is capable of. Yes, filthy above all, disgusting, loathsome!—and for a whole month I’ve been....”

“All that’s nonsense,” he said hopefully, “and there is nothing in it all to worry about! It’s simply physical derangement. Just a glass of beer, a piece of dry bread—and in one moment the brain is stronger, the mind is clearer and the will is firm! Phew, how utterly petty it all is!”

But why, if you are so clever, do you lie here like a sack and have nothing to show for it?

Was it all put into words, or did both understand that they had the same thing at heart and in their minds, so that there was no need to speak of it aloud, and better not to speak of it.

‘You are our one comfort, you are everything to us.’

“It needs time and care to get to know a man,”

“What really matters is not the stinginess, is not the meanness, but the tone of the whole thing.”

“That’s how it always is with these Schilleresque noble hearts; till the last moment every goose is a swan with them, till the last moment, they hope for the best and will see nothing wrong, and although they have an inkling of the other side of the picture, yet they won’t face the truth till they are forced to;”

Let my life go, if only my dear ones may be happy!

So he tortured himself, fretting himself with such questions, and finding a kind of enjoyment in it.

“looking like ladies and refined”

“Oh shameful wretches, they won’t let me alone!”

“I knew that I could never bring myself to it, so what have I been torturing myself for till now?”

“But what help can he be to me now? Suppose he gets me lessons, suppose he shares his last farthing with me, if he has any farthings, so that I could get some boots and make myself tidy enough to give lessons... hm...

“I was joking of course, but look here; on one side we have a stupid, senseless, worthless, spiteful, ailing, horrid old woman, not simply useless but doing actual mischief, who has not an idea what she is living for herself, and who will die in a day or two in any case. You understand? You understand?”

“It’s red, and on red blood will be less noticeable,”

“I’m studying the law you see! It’s evident, e-vi-dent there’s something wrong here!”

“Should he slip through some gateway and wait somewhere in an unknown street? No, hopeless! Should he fling away the axe? Should he take a cab? Hopeless, hopeless!”

“So my reason has not quite deserted me, so I still have some sense and memory, since I guessed it of myself,”

“If I’m lost, I am lost, I don’t care! Shall I put the sock on?”

“Some foolishness, some trifling carelessness, and I may betray myself! Hm... it’s a pity there’s no air here,” he added, “it’s stifling.... It makes one’s head dizzier than ever... and one’s mind too...”

“I am a poor student, sick and shattered by poverty.”

“Fling them into the canal, and all traces hidden in the water, the thing would be at an end.”

“I have buried my tracks! And who, who can think of looking under that stone? It has been lying there most likely ever since the house was built, and will lie as many years more. And if it were found, who would think of me? It is all over! No clue!”

“It is because I am very ill,” he decided grimly at last, “I have been worrying and fretting myself, and I don’t know what I am doing.... Yesterday and the day before yesterday and all this time I have been worrying myself.... I shall get well and I shall not worry.... But what if I don’t get well at all? Good God, how sick I am of it all!”

Very interesting to know, though; have I come on purpose or have I simply walked here by chance?

“Stop, stop! You queer fish.”

“Well, then, I came to you because I know no one but you who could help... to begin... because you are kinder than anyone—cleverer, I mean, and can judge... and now I see that I want nothing. Do you hear? Nothing at all... no one’s services... no one’s sympathy. I am by myself... alone. Come, that’s enough. Leave me alone.”

And please don’t think I am doing you a service; quite the contrary, as soon as you came in, I saw how you could help me; to begin with, I am weak in spelling, and secondly, I am sometimes utterly adrift in German, so that I make it up as I go along for the most part. The only comfort is, that it’s bound to be a change for the better. Though who can tell, maybe it’s sometimes for the worse. Will you take it?”

“You’ve eaten nothing since yesterday, I warrant. You’ve been trudging about all day, and you’re shaking with fever.”

“It was base of me to say that.... My mother herself is almost a beggar... and I told a lie to keep my lodging... and be fed,”

“What does it mean? Am I still in delirium, or is it real? I believe it is real.... Ah, I remember; I must escape! Make haste to escape. Yes, I must, I must escape! Yes... but where? And where are my clothes? I’ve no boots. They’ve taken them away! They’ve hidden them! I understand!”

“They think I am ill! They don’t know that I can walk, ha-ah-a! I could see by their eyes that they know all about it!”

“I feel the greatest regret at finding you in this situation,”

“I am not speaking from temper, but in a friendly way, for sport, as that workman of yours said when he was scuffling with Dmitri, in the case of the old woman....”

He suddenly went off into the same nervous laugh as before, as though utterly unable to restrain himself.

to shout at them, to swear at them, to put out his tongue at them, to mock them, to laugh, and laugh, and laugh!

“But all that is only talk. I dare say when it came to deeds you’d make a slip. I believe that even a practised, desperate man cannot always reckon on himself, much less you and I.

“It means that I’m sick to death of you all and I want to be alone,”

“For God’s sake be calm, don’t be frightened!” he said, speaking quickly, “he was crossing the road and was run over by a carriage, don’t be frightened, he will come to, I told them bring him here... I’ve been here already, you remember? He will come to; I’ll pay!”

“Don’t worry the poor woman too much, she is in consumption as it is. Try and cheer her up, if possible... you are a kind-hearted man, I know...”

Life is real! haven’t I lived just now? My life has not yet died with that old woman! The Kingdom of Heaven to her—

Now for the reign of reason and light... and of will, and of strength... and now we will see! We will try our strength!”

“I am a little giddy, but that’s not the point, I am so sad, so sad... like a woman. Look, what’s that? Look, look!”

“I know we are going in together, but I want to shake hands here and say good-bye to you here. So give me your hand, good-bye!”