Ivan Karamazov

Character in The Brothers Karamazov From: The Brothers Karamazov

Intellectual older brother; nihilist and skeptic

313 quotes

"Rebellion and freedom are the highest pursuits of mankind."
Freedom
"We have all become atheists unconsciously."
Faith
"Ignorance is the bliss of cowardice."
Courage
"I believe like a child that suffering will be healed and made up for, that all the humiliating absurdity of human contradictions will vanish like a pitiful mirage."
Faith
"If there is no God, then everything is permitted."
Philosophy
"I love mankind, but I am amazed at myself: the more I love mankind in general, the less I love man in particular."
Relationships
"Freedom without love is the greatest slavery."
Freedom
"The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable."
Truth
"To punish a criminal is to acknowledge his freedom."
Justice
"The greatest prison is the prison of one's own mind."
Freedom
"The hardest prison to escape is the one we build for ourselves."
Freedom
"The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for."
Life
"The more I love humanity in general, the less I love man in particular."
Relationships
"If God does not exist, then everything is permitted."
Faith
"Freedom is the most precious gift, but the heaviest burden."
Freedom
"To be conscious is to suffer, yet consciousness is the ladder by which we climb toward truth."
Knowledge
"The soul of another is a mystery that cannot be penetrated by force."
Solitude
"Children are innocent, yet the world demands they suffer."
Truth
"Sin is not in actions but in the intentions that drive them."
Philosophy
"The mind can justify anything the heart desires."
Philosophy
"The pursuit of happiness often leads to greater misery than acceptance of fate."
Happiness
"Doubt is not weakness but the beginning of wisdom."
Knowledge
"To understand all is to forgive all, yet understanding is impossibly difficult."
Wisdom
"I think the devil doesn't exist, but man has created him; he has created him in his own image and likeness."
Philosophy
"I rebel against suffering, but I cannot rebel against the logic of it."
"The more I love humanity in general, the less I love man in particular."
Relationships
"Consciousness is an illness."
Philosophy
"Everything is lawful if infinity does not exist."
"I don't want harmony, I want to remain in revolt, even if I am wrong."
"Suffering is the sole origin of consciousness."
Wisdom