The Brothers Karamazov

"The more I love humanity in general, the less I love man in particular."

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

"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."

"The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for."

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

"I am not rebelling against my maker. I am only not accepting his creation."

"A secret! What sort of secret?"

"I want to travel in Europe, Alyosha. I shall set off there in the spring and I shall go away from here, and perhaps I shall not come back."

"The more I study the works of men, the more convinced I am of the necessity of returning to the fundamental principles upon which Christianity is based."

"The awful thing is that beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and the devil are fighting there, and the battlefield is the heart of man."

"And so I am sick of fantasies; give me something more solid and real."

"The more I love humanity in general, the less I love man in particular."

"I love the sticky leaves in spring, the blue sky—that is all."

"It seems, in fact, as though I am a coward, but it cannot be helped."

"The freedom that the poor man has won is not worth the bones of one dead child."

"Miracles are the only possible manifestation of truth in a world of sin."

"How can I explain to you my ideas? I could never do so adequately."

"The more I love humanity in general, the less I love man in particular."

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

"One can love one's people and one's country, yet hate the government that rules them."

"I believe, but I do not know why I believe."

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

"The soul grows through suffering"

"I believe in passion above all else"

"The greatest strength is to acknowledge one's weakness"

"I have wasted my life on trifles and pleasures"

"To be truly alive is to be truly guilty"

"I cannot believe in a God who permits innocent suffering"

"The heart speaks louder than the mind"

"I am not a murderer of souls, but a lover of life"