The Hindus have gone further than we have in the development of metaphysical science. For them, this is not the philosophy of a single social layer.
Suicides are committed because of the lack of religious conscience, not the conscience that tells you to go to church, but the one that guides your life. Before they had faith, but now the absence of religion leads to madness, and madness to suicide.
Schopenhauer said that if we judge others, we do what the dog barks at its reflection in the mirror.
I like to see the moon on the left side and meet a woman with empty buckets, because I have freed myself from superstitions. (August 27)
It's not the number of years you lived that matters, but how you used them.
Diseases must be transformed into something useful for the soul. Humility, patience, striving not to be a burden to others. If the disease upsets you, then the suffering is unbearable. I will never forget the words of an old woman: "It's good to die in the summer, it's easier to dig the grave."
Any false criticism that praises decadent art is the door through which all talentless people rush.
If a man has a sense of duty, the feeling that he is obliged to do something, that man is already religious.
Although Jews are smart and want access to education, I have no understanding of aspiring to be admitted to institutions of higher learning, nor of converting to another religion because of it.
There are people who like to talk and write a lot. They don't listen to what you say, and in turn they talk together. All you have to do is remain silent in their presence.
Most of our friends are the ones we don't know. They know what to do and keep quiet.
Darkness is the cradle of the Sun. Stars need darkness.
The connection between knowledge and science is the same as between religion and the church.
Nietzsche represents the decadence of philosophy.
We should not pity the good, but the bad, they suffer more.
I do not regret the separation of those from Little Russia *. Progress means closeness. We don't have to relive the past.
Maupassant is a wonder. It describes the vileness of this life amazingly well.
Rocks, birds, are given to fly, and men are given to live wisely, and they preferred to live badly and fly. They will not fly like rocks, and they will lose their minds completely.
It's amazing how the Truth is hidden by miracles, rituals!
Any participation in political activity is absolutely useless.
There is nothing more difficult to endure in the world than the death of your child. The hangman - out of the question!
Religion is the establishment of your relationship with the world and the obligations that arise from it.
The weaker the belief, the greater the desire to spread it.
[About The Brothers Karamazov.] Abominable. From an artistic point of view the descriptions are good, but there is an irony out of place in it. In the conversations of the heroes, however, Dostoevsky himself speaks. Ah, it's not good, it's not good! The seminarian and the abbot, Ivan Karamazov in turn, all use the same language. It surprises me that Dostoevsky is so valued. Religious matters, which are the deepest in the spiritual life, are those which are cherished by the public. I am severe with him about that thing which I myself repent of, the purely artistic side. But he is valued for the religious side, this spiritual struggle so full of strength in Dostoevsky... But art does not tolerate mediocrity. The reader must put himself in the situation, feel what the author feels.
[About The Brothers Karamazov.] Ugly. It is not artistic, it invents, it exaggerates... The ideas are wonderful, the religious content... It is strange that it enjoys such glory.
Selfishness, the family, the state, humanity are the fulfillment of God's will, the motives that set in motion.
Religious truth is only that which is in motion.
[Regarding the sect of "Jidanites".] Why "Judaites" instead of "Jidanites"? In the past "Jidan" indicated nationality, but now it has become a term of abuse. These sects are interesting mainly because they deny orthodoxy. freed from obedience to the church, therefore it is easier for them to reach a free understanding. But they do not have an original, universal relationship with God.
There are people to whom you have to explain everything in detail, clarify every word.
[About The Brothers Karamazov.] I can say that the stories of Abbot Zosima and "The Grand Inquisitor" contain many good things. But they are exaggerated, they have no sense of measure. Besides, the "Grand Inquisitor" is so-and-so. But Zosima's stories, especially the last ones, the ones noted by Alioșa, contain good ideas.