Quotes / Fyodor Dostoevsky / Crime and Punishment
Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth.
— Fyodor Dostoevsky, spoken by Rodion Raskolnikov
Genuine Found word for word in the work, in the original and in a public-domain translation.Draft entry, not yet reviewed
Страдание и боль всегда обязательны для широкого сознания и глубокого сердца. Истинно великие люди, мне кажется, должны ощущать на свете великую грусть
Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth,
- Work
- Crime and Punishment, 1866
- Where
- Part 3, chapter 5
- Speaker
- Rodion Raskolnikov
- To
- Razumikhin, in the rooms of the investigator Porfiry Petrovich
The scene
At his first meeting with Porfiry Petrovich, Raskolnikov is drawn into explaining his article 'On Crime', which divides people into ordinary and extraordinary. Razumikhin, appalled, asks whether the real geniuses, 'those who have the right to murder', ought not to suffer at all for the blood they shed. Raskolnikov answers that it is not a matter of 'ought': a man will suffer if he is sorry for his victim; then he adds this, dreamily, out of tone with the conversation. The reader knows he has killed two women; Porfiry suspects it.
Read it in the text
ЧАСТЬ ТРЕТЬЯ · V
-- У кого есть она, тот страдай, коль сознает ошибку. Это и наказание ему, -- опричь каторги.
-- Ну а действительно-то гениальные, -- нахмурясь, спросил Разумихин, -- вот те-то, которым резать-то право дано, те так уж и должны не страдать совсем, даже за кровь пролитую?
-- Зачем тут слово: должны? Тут нет ни позволения, ни запрещения. Пусть страдает, если жаль жертву... Страдание и боль всегда обязательны для широкого сознания и глубокого сердца. Истинно великие люди, мне кажется, должны ощущать на свете великую грусть, -- прибавил он вдруг задумчиво, даже не в тон разговора.
Он поднял глаза, вдумчиво посмотрел на всех, улыбнулся и взял фуражку. Он был слишком спокоен сравнительно с тем, как вошел давеча, и чувствовал это. Все встали.
-- Ну-с, браните меня или нет, сердитесь иль нет, а я не могу утерпеть, -- заключил опять Порфирий Петрович, -- позвольте еще вопросик один (очень уж я вас беспокою-с!), одну только маленькую идейку хотел пропустить, единственно только чтобы не забыть-с...
PART III · CHAPTER V · Constance Garnett
“If he has a conscience he will suffer for his mistake. That will be his punishment--as well as the prison.”
“But the real geniuses,” asked Razumihin frowning, “those who have the right to murder? Oughtn’t they to suffer at all even for the blood they’ve shed?”
“Why the word _ought_? It’s not a matter of permission or prohibition. He will suffer if he is sorry for his victim. Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth,” he added dreamily, not in the tone of the conversation.
He raised his eyes, looked earnestly at them all, smiled, and took his cap. He was too quiet by comparison with his manner at his entrance, and he felt this. Everyone got up.
“Well, you may abuse me, be angry with me if you like,” Porfiry Petrovitch began again, “but I can’t resist. Allow me one little question (I know I am troubling you). There is just one little notion I want to express, simply that I may not forget it.”
What it says
Suffering is not imposed from outside but is the natural lot of anyone who understands widely and feels deeply; greatness brings sadness.
How it is misread
Circulates as a consoling line for sensitive or gifted people. In the scene it is a murderer's answer to whether his 'extraordinary' men should feel remorse: he turns guilt into a sign of greatness. The novel answers with Sonia's very different suffering, accepted as expiation (Part 5, chapter 4).
Forms in circulation
- condensed
Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart.
Usually quoted alone, without Razumikhin's question about the right to murder. The Russian says suffering is 'obligatory' (обязательны) for a 'broad consciousness' (широкого сознания), not a 'large intelligence'.
Tags
What it is made of
Nearby
- An 'extraordinary' man has the right to decide in his own conscience to overstep certain obstacles. related
- Accept suffering and achieve atonement through it — that is what you must do. related
- Much unhappiness has come into the world because of bewilderment and things left unsaid. alike 54%
- Man is sometimes extraordinarily, passionately, in love with suffering. … Suffering is the sole origin of consciousness. alike 54%
- Compassion is the chief and perhaps the only law of human existence. alike 51%
- The soul is healed by being with children. alike 50%
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