Inspirational Quotes on Idiot

“Therefore, when a person refuses to come to Christ it is never just because of a lack of evidence or because of intellectual difficulties: at root, he refuses to come because he willingly ignores and rejects the drawing of God's Spirit on his heart. No one in the final analysis fails to become a Christian because of a lack of arguments; he fails to become a Christian because he loves darkness rather than light and wants nothing to do with god.”

“The Idiot. I have read it once, and find that I don't remember the events of the book very well--or even all the principal characters. But mostly the 'portrait of a truly beautiful person' that dostoevsky supposedly set out to write in that book. And I remember how Myshkin seemed so simple when I began the book, but by the end, I realized how I didn't understand him at all. the things he did. Maybe when I read it again it will be different. But the plot of these dostoevsky books can hold such twists and turns for the first-time reader-- I guess that's b/c he was writing most of these books as serials that had to have cliffhangers and such. But I make marks in my books, mostly at parts where I see the author's philosophical points standing in the most stark relief. My copy of Moby Dick is positively full of these marks. The Idiot, I find has a few... Part 3, Section 5. The sickly Ippolit is reading from his 'Explanation' or whatever its called. He says his convictions are not tied to him being condemned to death. It's important for him to describe, of happiness: "you may be sure that Columbus was happy not when he had discovered America, but when he was discovering it." That it's the process of life--not the end or accomplished goals in it--that matter. Well. Easier said than lived! Part 3, Section 6. more of Ippolit talking--about a christian mindset. He references Jesus's parable of The Word as seeds that grow in men, couched in a description of how people are interrelated over time; its a picture of a multiplicity. Later in this section, he relates looking at a painting of Christ being taken down from the cross, at Rogozhin's house. The painting produced in him an intricate metaphor of despair over death "in the form of a huge machine of the most modern construction which, dull and insensible, has aimlessly clutched, crushed, and swallowed up a great priceless Being, a Being worth all nature and its laws, worth the whole earth, which was created perhaps solely for the sake of the advent of this Being." The way Ippolit's ideas are configured, here, reminds me of the writings of Gilles Deleuze. And the phrasing just sort of remidns me of the way everyone feels--many people feel crushed by the incomprehensible machine, in life. Many people feel martyred in their very minor ways. And it makes me think of the concept that a narrative religion like Christianity uniquely allows for a kind of socialized or externalized, shared experience of subjectivity. Like, we all know the story of this man--and it feels like our own stories at the same time. Part 4, Section 7. Myshkin's excitement (leading to a seizure) among the Epanchin's dignitary guests when he talks about what the nobility needs to become ("servants in order to be leaders"). I'm drawn to things like this because it's affirming, I guess, for me: "it really is true that we're absurd, that we're shallow, have bad habits, that we're bored, that we don't know how to look at things, that we can't understand; we're all like that." And of course he finds a way to make that into a good thing. which, it's pointed out by scholars, is very important to Dostoevsky philosophy--don't deny the earthly passions and problems in yourself, but accept them and incorporate them into your whole person. Me, I'm still working on that one.”

“POLONIUS My lord, the queen would speak with you, and presently. HAMLET Do you see yonder cloud that's almost in shape of a camel? POLONIUS By th'mass, and 'tis like a camel indeed. HAMLET Methinks it is like a weasel. POLONIUS It is backed like a weasel. HAMLET Or like a whale? POLONIUS Very like a whale. HAMLET Then I will come to my mother by and by. - They fool me to the top of my bent. - I will come by and by.”

“- Bez sumnje, a sve se zbilo tako priprosto i prirodno kako se može zbiti samo u zbilji; da se toga prihvatio romanopisac, nagomilao bi svakojakih izmišljotina i nevjerojatnosti.”

“- Bolje je biti nesretan, ali znati, nego biti sretan i biti zaluđivan.”

“... zbilja je tako, mi smo smiješni, lakomisleni, s lošim navikama, dosađujemo se, ne znamo gledati, ne umijemo razumjeti, ta svi smo mi takvi, svi, i vi, i ja, i oni! Ta vi se evo ne vrijeđate što vam u oči kažem da ste smiješni? A ako je tako, zar vi niste materijal? Znate, prema mojem je sudu katkad i dobro biti smiješan, pa i bolje je: brže može jedan drugomu oprostiti, brže se umiriti; ne može se sve razumijevati u isti mah, ne može se započinjati ravno od savršenstva! Da postigneš savršenstvo, trebaš najprije mnogo razumjeti! A ako prebrzo pojmimo, možda i nećemo valjano pojmiti. To ja govorim vama, vama koji ste već tako mnogo znali razumjeti i... ne razumjeti. Sada se ne bojim za vas; ta vi se ne srdite što vam ovakav dječak govori takve riječi? Dakako da se ne srdite! O, vi ćete znati zaboraviti i oprostiti onima koji su vas uvrijedili, i onima koji vas nisu uvrijedili ničim; jer od svega je teže oprostiti onima koji nas nisu uvrijedili ničim, i baš zato jer nas nisu uvrijedili, nije dakle osnovana naša tužba: eto, tomu sam se nadao od viših ljudi, eto, to sam im htio reći kad sam išao ovamo, a nisam znao kako bih kazao...”

“Ničemu se ne čuditi znak je, kažu, velikoga uma; prema mojem sudu moglo bi to biti isto tako i znak velike gluposti...”

“- Zato i jest sve to zazorno, jer tu nije bilo ništa ozbiljno! - uzvikne Jevgenij Pavlovič koji se sasvim zanio - oprostite mi, kneže, no... ja... ja sam mislio o tome, kneže; mnogo sam mislio; znam sve što je bilo prije, znam sve što je bilo prije pola godine; sve, i sve to nije bilo ozbiljno! Sve je to bio samo duševni zanos, slikovitost, fantazija, dim, i samo je zaplašena ljubomora sasvim neiskusne djevojke mogla to smatrati nečim ozbiljnim!”

“... нийтлэг, адил зүйл үгүй мэт санагдах нь олонтоо байдаг ч үнэндээ бол их байдаг шүү ... Хүмүүс залхуугаасаа л болж нүдээрээ харж, бие биеэ ангилж зааглаад орхино, адил төстэй шинжийг нь ч олж хардаггүй.”

“Ja vas mrzim, Gavrila Ardalionoviču, samo zato - vama će se to možda učiniti čudnim - samo zato što ste vi tip i utjelovljenje, lik i vrhunac najbezobraznije, najzadovoljnije sobom, najnezgrapnije i najgadnije ordnarnosti! Vi ste kićena ordinarnost, ordinardnost koja ne sumnja te je olimpijski spokojna; vi ste šablon nad šablonima. Ni najsitnijoj vlastitoj ideji nije suđeno da se ikad utjelovi bilo u pameti, bilo u srcu vašem. No vi ste beskrajno zavidni; čvrsto ste uvjereni da ste najveći genij, no sumnja vas ipak zaokuplja katkad u nemilim časovima te se srdite i zavidite. O, imate vi crnih točaka na obzorju; nestat će ih kad napokon oglupite, što nije daleko; ali ipak je pred vama dug i raznolik put, ne kažem da je veseo, i tomu se radujem.”

“- Pa pogledao sam! Predobro se sjećam da sam gledao! Puzao sam četveronoške, pipao sam rukama po tom mjestu, maknuo sam stolicu, nisam vjerovao svojim očima: i vidim da nema ništa, pusto i prazno mjesto, evo kao moj dlan, a ipak sam dalje pipao. Takva se malodušnost svagda ponavlja čovjeku kad prejako želi naći... u zamašnim i bolnim gubicima: vidi on da nema ništa, mjesto je prazno, a ipak će petnaestak puta pogledati onamo.”