Fyodor Dostoevsky book summaries

“Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart.”

Raskolnikov says this to Porfiry Petrovich during a conversation about the nature of suffering and crime.

“To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's.”

Raskolnikov reflects on his own moral choices and the value of personal conviction.

“We sometimes encounter people, even perfect strangers, who begin to interest us at first sight, somehow suddenly, all at once, before a word has been spoken.”

Narrator's description of Raskolnikov's first meeting with the Marmeladov family.

“I did not bow down to you, I bowed down to all the suffering of humanity.”

Raskolnikov says this to Sonya when he kneels before her, acknowledging her as a symbol of suffering.

“Man is a mystery: if you spend your entire life trying to puzzle it out, then do not say that you have wasted your time.”

A line often attributed to Dostoevsky, but not directly in the novel; it is from a letter, so it is not included here.