The Brothers Karamazov Suffering Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph). We used Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky's translation.

Quote #7

"I was a fool, a fool to torment myself for five years! And I didn't torment myself because of him at all, I tormented myself out of spite!" (8.7.182)

Grushenka recognizes at this point that her real suffering was self-imposed; she alone is responsible for holding onto an idealized image of her loser Polish boyfriend for so long. In short, she should have gotten over it a whole lot sooner.

Quote #8

"You can revive and resurrect the frozen heart in this convict, you can look after him for years, and finally bring up from the cave into the light a soul that is lofty now, a suffering consciousness, you can revive an angel, resurrect a hero! And there are many of them, there are hundreds and we're all guilty for them! Why did I have a dream about a 'wee one' at such a moment? 'Why is the wee one poor?' It was a prophecy to me at that moment! [...] All people are 'wee ones.'" (11.4.36)

Dmitri often refers to resurrection during the experience of his trial and subsequent conviction. The language draws a parallel between Dmitri and Jesus, where suffering redeems not only the individual but the whole of mankind (thus Dmitri's reference to the "wee ones").

Quote #9

"Before it was just her infernal curves that fretted me, but now I've taken her whole soul into my soul, and through her I've become a man!"(11.4.51)

Another shift in Dmitri's sensibility in the second half of the novel is marked by his sincere love for Grushenka, which has replaced the purely physical lust he felt for her earlier.