Crime and Punishment

Dostoevsky is one of my favouite authors.  Crime and Punishment is a novel that I had been meaning to read for quite some time.  I remember buying a copy of the novel when I was in my first year MCA.  I somehow lost that book.  I bought another copy of the book after I had moved to Hyderabad.  And I lost that copy too.  I had lent it to a friend who misplaced it somewhere.  Finally, I bought the current copy that I have, a hard-bound copy.  I don't like hard-cover books and I tried my best to find a paperback version before buying this one; but couldn't find any.  Good thing is that I read this book without losing it :)

I liked the novel.  Dostoevsky made me fall in love with Dounia; it wasn't just Svidrigaïlov who loved the way she looked as she was pointing gun at him.  Svidrigaïlov is probably my most favourite character in the novel.

As always, I collected some quotes along the way.  Some of these don't make much sense without the context.  But this is to record what I liked, so here's the list.

• But if one looks at men in all ways -- are there many good ones left?
• You'll never improve a man by repelling him.
• But facts are not everything — at least half the business lies in how you interpret them.
• Man is a vile creature!... And vile is he who calls him vile for that.
• As if madmen didn't talk sensibly.
• What idiotic ideas come into one's head!
• You never reach any truth without making fourteen mistakes and very likely a hundred and fourteen.
• To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's. 
• "Of course, I am an ass, but still... you are another."
• "God give peace to the dead, the living still have to live."
• We must be patient, and much, much can be forgiven.
• Don't be uneasy, mother.  What must be, will be.
• Vive la guerre éternelle.  (Translates to "Long live the eternal war".)
• Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large and a deep heart.  The really great man must, I think, have great sadness on earth.
• The more cunning a man is, the simpler the trap he must be caught in.
• "Human beings in general, indeed, greatly love to be insulted, have you noticed that?"
• "I did not bow down to you, I bowed down to all the suffering of humanity."
• "What should I be without God?"
• "What all men need is fresh air, fresh air... more than anything!"
• Everyone thinks of himself, and he lives most gaily who knows best how to deceive himself.
• "But why are you so keen about virtue?  Have mercy on me, my good friend, I am a sinful man."