“The consciousness of life is higher than life, the knowledge of the laws of happiness is higher than happiness.”

— Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man (1877), Section V

About Fyodor Dostoevsky

1821 – 1881

Russian novelist, author of 'Crime and Punishment' and 'The Brothers Karamazov'.

“A dream! What is a dream? And is not our life a dream?”

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

“If you want to be respected by others the great thing is to respect yourself.”

“Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”

“Happiness is the only sanction of life; where happiness fails, existence remains a mad and lamentable experiment.”

“The young have exalted notions, because they have not been humbled by life or learned its necessary limitations.”

“You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you.”

“They who know the truth are not equal to those who love it, and they who love it are not equal to those who delight in it.”

“Knowledge, that tendeth but to satisfaction, is but as a courtesan, which is for pleasure, and not for fruit or generation.”