Crime and Punishment Quotes

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.

To go wrong in one’s own way is better than to go right in someone else’s.

It takes something more than intelligence to act intelligently.

Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.

When reason fails, the devil helps!

We’re always thinking of eternity as an idea that cannot be understood, something immense. But why must it be? What if, instead of all this, you suddenly find just a little room there, something like a village bath-house, grimy, and spiders in every corner, and that’s all eternity is. Sometimes, you know, I can’t help feeling that that’s what it is.

I did not bow down to you, I bowed down to all the suffering of humanity.

And the more I drink the more I feel it. That’s why I drink too. I try to find sympathy and feeling in drink.... I drink so that I may suffer twice as much!

A hundred suspicions don’t make a proof.

The fear of appearances is the first symptom of impotence.

Power is given only to him who dares to stoop and take it ... one must have the courage to dare.

Man grows used to everything, the scoundrel!

The man who has a conscience suffers whilst acknowledging his sin. That is his punishment-- as well as prison.

Truly great men must, I think, experience great sorrow on the earth.

You see I kept asking myself then: why am I so stupid that if others are stupid—and I know they are—yet I won’t be wiser?

Break what must be broken, once for all, that’s all, and take the suffering on oneself.

Don’t be overwise; fling yourself straight into life, without deliberation; don’t be afraid - the flood will bear you to the bank and set you safe on your feet again.

There is nothing in the world more difficult than candor, and nothing easier than flattery.

Man has it all in his hands, and it all slips through his fingers from sheer cowardice.

In flattery, even if everything is false down to the last note, it is still pleasant, and people will listen not without pleasure; with coarse pleasure, perhaps, but pleasure nevertheless.

Only to live, to live and live! Life, whatever it may be!

People with new ideas, people with the faintest capacity for saying something new, are extremely few in number, extraordinarily so, in fact.

“They snapped words over our heads, and they made us put on the white shirts worn by persons condemned to death.

“His Majesty had spared us our lives.”

“It would be interesting to know what it is men are most afraid of.”

“But I am talking too much. It’s because I chatter that I do nothing. Or perhaps it is that I chatter because I do nothing.”

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!”

“Just what I thought! I’m a man of experience, immense experience, sir,”

“Does not my heart ache to think what a useless worm I am?”

“Hopelessly in the fullest sense, when you know beforehand that you will get nothing by it.

You know, for instance, beforehand with positive certainty that this man, this most reputable and exemplary citizen, will on no consideration give you money; and indeed I ask you why should he? For he knows of course that I shan’nt pay it back.

“Well, when one has no one, nowhere else one can go! For every man must have somewhere to go. Since there are times when one absolutely must go somewhere!

Excuse me, young man, can you.... No, to put it more strongly and more distinctly; not can you but dare you, looking upon me, assert that I am not a pig?

Granted, granted, I am a scoundrel, but she is a woman of a noble heart, full of sentiments, refined by education.

Honoured sir, honoured sir, you know every man ought to have at least one place where people feel for him!

She had not any dresses... none at all, but she got herself up as though she were going on a visit; and not that she’d anything to do it with, she smartened herself up with nothing at all, she’ d done her hair nicely, put on a clean collar of some sort, cuffs, and there she was, quite a different person, she was younger and better looking.

“Not on earth, but up yonder... they grieve over men, they weep, but they don’ blame them, they don’ blame them!”

And He will say, ‘Come to me! I have already forgiven thee once.... I have forgiven thee once.... Thy sins which are many are forgiven thee for thou hast loved much....’

And He will say unto us, ‘Ye are swine, made in the Image of the Beast and with his mark; but come ye also!’

“What if man is not really a scoundrel, man in general, I mean, the whole race of mankind—then all the rest is prejudice, simply artificial terrors and there are no barriers and it’s all as it should be.”

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

Do you still say your prayers, Rodya, and believe in the mercy of our Creator and our Redeemer?

Remember, dear boy, how in your childhood, when your father was living, you used to lisp your prayers at my knee, and how happy we all were in those days.

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;”

For one she loves, for one she adores, she will sell herself!

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!”

“They are drunken and foolish, they are in fun; come away, don’t look!”

“What are you about, are you a Christian, you devil?” shouted an old man in the crowd.

“He put his arms round his father but he felt choked, choked.”

“Good God!” he cried, “can it be, can it be, that I shall really take an axe, that I shall strike her on the head, split her skull open... that I shall tread in the sticky warm blood, break the lock, steal and tremble; hide, all spattered in the blood... with the axe.... Good God, can it be?”

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

“Lord, show me my path—I renounce that accursed... dream of mine.”

“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...

“Don’t you mind her, mates, bring a whip each of you, get ready!”

“You can always get money from her. She is as rich as a Jew, she can give you five thousand roubles at a time and she is not above taking a pledge for a rouble. Lots of our fellows have had dealings with her. But she is an awful old harpy....”

“Yes, she is so dark-skinned and looks like a soldier dressed up, but you know she is not at all hideous. She has such a good-natured face and eyes. Strikingly so. And the proof of it is that lots of people are attracted by her. She is such a soft, gentle creature, ready to put up with anything, always willing, willing to do anything. And her smile is really very sweet.”

“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?”

“Why are you lying like a log?” she shouted, looking at him with repulsion.

“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,”

For whole days together he’s snoring here like a dog! A dog he is too. Open I tell you. It’s past ten.

“He’s taken to bolting himself in! As if he were worth stealing! Open, you stupid, wake up!”

“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...”

“What do you want?” he shouted, apparently astonished that such a ragged fellow was not annihilated by the majesty of his glance.

“Be silent! You are in a government office. Don’t be impudent, sir!”

“But he came quite tipsy, and asked for three bottles again, and then he lifted up one leg, and began playing the pianoforte with one foot, and that is not at all right in an honourable house, and he ganz broke the piano, and it was very bad manners indeed and I said so.”

“The idea of squealing like a little pig at the window into the street! Fie upon him!”

“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?”

“Take it, my good man, in Christ’s name.”

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

“I am always knocking my head. You call this a lodging!

When you decamped in that rascally way without leaving your address, I felt so angry that I resolved to find you out and punish you.

And that promise of marriage when her daughter, Natalya Yegorovna, was alive?.. I know all about it! But I see that’s a delicate matter and I am an ass; forgive me.

But, talking of foolishness, do you know Praskovya Pavlovna is not nearly so foolish as you would think at first sight?”

“But she is not very clever either, eh? She is essentially, essentially an unaccountable character!

“But I swear I judge her intellectually, simply from the metaphysical point of view; there is a sort of symbolism sprung up between us, a sort of algebra or what not! I don’t understand it!”

“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,”

“I see, brother,” he said a moment later, “that I have been playing the fool again. I thought I should amuse you with my chatter, and I believe I have only made you cross.”

“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!”

“he has forgotten. I fancied then that you were not quite yourself. Now you are better for your sleep.... You really look much better. First-rate! Well, to business. Look here, my dear boy.”

“I did not go empty- handed— they took the size from this monster. We all did our best.”

“And now, brother, let me change your linen, for I daresay you will throw off your illness with your shirt.”

“Oh, you particular gentleman! Principles! You are worked by principles, as it were by springs; you won’t venture to turn round on your own account. If a man is a nice fellow, that’s the only principle I go upon. Zametov is a delightful person.”

“And I wouldn’t give more than one for you. No more of your jokes! Zametov is no more than a boy. I can pull his hair and one must draw him not repel him. You’ll never improve a man by repelling him, especially a boy. One has to be twice as careful with a boy. Oh, you progressive dullards! You don’t understand. You harm yourselves running another man down.... But if you want to know, we really have something in common.”

“Why, it’s all about a house-painter.... We are getting him out of a mess! Though indeed there’s nothing to fear now. The matter is absolutely self-evident. We only put on steam.”

“What’s the most offensive is not their lying—one can always forgive lying—lying is a delightful thing, for it leads to truth—what is offensive is that they lie and worship their own lying....”

But facts are not everything—at least half the business lies in how you interpret them!”

“Anyway, one can’t hold one’s tongue when one has a feeling, a tangible feeling, that one might be a help if only....”

“How can you, a doctor, whose duty it is to study man and who has more opportunity than anyone else for studying human nature—how can you fail to see the character of the man in the whole story?

one must take into consideration the facts which prove him innocent, especially as they are facts that cannot be denied.

“Too clever! No, my boy, you’re too clever. That beats everything.”

“Why, because everything fits too well... it’s too melodramatic.”

“whose familiarity seemed so much like unaffected good-nature”

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

“A disgusting place—filthy, stinking and, what’s more, of doubtful character.

“Excuse me, I fancied so from your inquiry. I was once his guardian.... A very nice young man and advanced. I like to meet young people: one learns new things from them.”

“It’s ten years since I visited Petersburg. All the novelties, reforms, ideas have reached us in the provinces, but to see it all more clearly one must be in Petersburg. And it’s my notion that you observe and learn most by watching the younger generation. And I confess I am delighted...”

“Practicality is a difficult thing to find; it does not drop down from heaven. And for the last two hundred years we have been divorced from all practical life. Ideas, if you like, are fermenting,”

“and desire for good exists, though it’s in a childish form, and honesty you may find, although there are crowds of brigands.”

“Of course, people do get carried away and make mistakes, but one must have indulgence; those mistakes are merely evidence of enthusiasm for the cause and of abnormal external environment.”

“Literature is taking a maturer form, many injurious prejudices have been rooted up and turned into ridicule....”

“Why, if ever again... you dare to mention a single word... about my mother... I shall send you flying downstairs!”

“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,”