The Brothers Karamazov

"Hope without action is merely self-deception"

"Truth demands everything from us or nothing at all"

"The greatest temptation is to believe we are worthy of mercy"

"Laughter and tears are the language of the soul"

"The human heart is an infinite mystery"

"Doubt is the gateway to truth or the abyss of despair"

"The unexamined life is not worth living, but the examined life is unbearable"

"The rebel who denies God is more honest than the believer who lies"

"A moment of understanding is worth a lifetime of philosophy"

"The heart knows reasons that reason knows nothing of"

"Despair is sometimes the only response to truth"

"The fear of God is not born of love but of terror"

"One can love one's neighbor in the abstract, but rarely in reality"

"Freedom is given to human beings, and therein lies our tragedy"

"A man may be convinced of the truth of something, and yet not believe it"

"Beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and the devil are fighting there, and the battlefield is the heart of man"

"If there is no God, then everything is permitted"

"The madness of man creates his own reality"

"A just man's only duty is to be just"

"There are moments when the soul goes mad"

"The future is not determined by prophecy but by choice"

"A man can endure any suffering if he has something to live for"

"Doubt is the torture of the thinking man"

"Freedom is terrifying because it leaves us responsible for our choices"

"I cannot bear to see the suffering of little children"

"People love a criminal less, but a criminal loves himself more"

"True civilization does not lie in gas pipes"

"The more advanced the society, the more unhappy it becomes"

"I think the devil doesn't exist, but man has created him; he has created him in his own image and likeness"

"I have a terrible fear of seeming ridiculous, and that has kept me happy ever since"