Top 4 The Brothers Karamazov quotes
“Hm. More than likely Ivan is right. Lord, just think how much faith, how much energy of all kinds man has spent on this dream, and for so many thousands of years! Who could be laughing at man like that? Ivan? For the last time, definitely: is there a God or not? It’s the last time I’ll ask.”
Fyodor, Part 1, Book III
Dostoevsky crafts all of his characters with a great degree of subtlety and nuance. In this extract, Fyodor has engaged his sons in the question about the existence of God, and he seems somewhat horrified at the idea that God does not exist even as he favors this notion in the discussion.
“There is, of course, a beast hidden in every man, a beast of rage, a beast of sensual inflammability at the cries of the tormented victim, an unrestrained beast let off the chain, a beast of diseases acquired in debauchery—gout, rotten liver, and so on. These educated parents subjected the poor five-year-old girl to every possible torture.”
Ivan, Part 2, Book V
Ivan is an atheist and claims that nothing like virtue exists, yet he feels such debilitating outrage at the stories about murdered children because of his innate sense of justice. This paradox that Ivan creates in his mind is what eventually leads him to madness.
“Why did you reject that last gift? Had you accepted that third counsel of the mighty spirit, you would have furnished all that man seeks on earth, that is: someone to bow down to, someone to take over his conscience, and a means for uniting everyone at last into a common, concordant, and incontestable anthill—for the need of universal union is the third and last torment of man.”
The Grand Inquisitor, Part 2, Book V
Ivan’s poem approaches its conclusion as the Grand Inquisitor asks Jesus why he had resisted the last of Satan’s three temptations. He argues that a kingdom on Earth, with Jesus at its head would have been a far better world than the one that existed at present, where man had freedom, but not security or bread.
“You must know that there is nothing higher, or stronger, or sounder, or more useful afterwards in life, than some good memory, especially a memory from childhood, from the parental home. You hear a lot said about your education, yet some such beautiful, sacred memory, preserved from childhood, is perhaps the best education. If a man stores up many such memories to take into life, then he is saved for his whole life. And even if only one good memory remains with us in our hearts, that alone may serve some day for our salvation.”
Alyosha, Part 4, Epilogue
In this final part of the novel, Alyosha addresses Ilyusha’s classmates after the young child’s funeral. He argues that even one single memory from a troubled childhood could help an individual remember virtue and goodness throughout their life.
