How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph). We used Constance Garnett's translation.
Quote #4
I will put up with any mockery rather than pretend that I am satisfied when I am hungry. […] I will not be put off with a compromise […]. Destroy my desires, eradicate my ideals, show me something better, and I will follow you. (1.10.3)
The Underground Man's idealism comes from books and proves to be horribly unrealistic in the real world. In this way, the Underground Man suffers for his idealism: reality can never satisfy him, and so he retreats underground.
Quote #5
It is clear to me now that, owing to my unbounded vanity and to the high standard I set for myself, I often looked at myself with furious discontent. (2.1.1)
Not only is reality unsatisfying to him, but he can never be satisfied with himself, either. Dissatisfaction is the price he pays for literary ideals.
Quote #6
They were all stupid, and as like one another as so many sheep. Perhaps I was the only one in the office who fancied that I was a coward and a slave, and I fancied it just because I was more highly developed. But it was not only that I fancied it, it really was so. I was a coward and a slave. I say this without the slightest embarrassment. Every decent man of our age must be a coward and a slave. That is his normal condition. […] Only donkeys and mules are valiant, and they only till they are pushed up to the wall. It is not worth while to pay attention to them for they really are of no consequence. (2.1.2)
The Underground Man's idealistic principles are actually self-serving. He defines what is decent and good by what he sees in himself; his principles are dubiously (doubtfully) subjective.