Crime and Punishment II

you've lost your ability to see things from a common-sense point of view, and in fact you can't see anything at all

And who am I to set myself up as a judge of who should live and who should not?

You must accept suffering and redeem yourself by it

if you can reason with a person logically and show him that he really has nothing to cry about, then he'll stop crying

there is nothing particularly wrong with the organism of the insane person, and that insanity is, as it were, a logical error, an error of judgement, a mistaken view of things

he became a victim of his own temperament

a man will endure half an hour of mortal terror at the hands of a brigand, yet when the knife is finally put to his throat, even his terror passes

In lechery there is at least something permanent, something that is truly founded upon nature and is not subject to the imagination, something that is present like a constantly live coal in the blood, forever setting one on fire, a coal it will take a long time, possibly into one's old age, to put out

no matter how crude the flattery may be, at least half of it always seems genuine

why is it considered more respectable to hurl bombs at people in a regular siege? The fear of aesthetics is the first symptom of powerlessness!

I used to analyze myself down to the last thread, used to compare myself with others, recalled all the smallest glances, smiles and words of those to whom I’d tried to be frank, interpreted everything in a bad light, laughed viciously at my attempts ‘to be like the rest’ –and suddenly, in the midst of my laughing, I’d give way to sadness, fall into ludicrous despondency and once again start the whole process all over again – in short, I went round and round like a squirrel on a wheel.

When reason fails, the devil helps!

The man who has a conscience suffers whilst acknowledging his sin. That is his punishment.

Power is given only to him who dares to stoop and take it ... one must have the courage to dare.