Quotes about freedom

Nothing is more seductive for man than his freedom of conscience, but nothing is a greater cause of suffering.

GenuineFyodor DostoevskyThe Brothers KaramazovPart 2, Book 5, chapter 5 ("The Grand Inquisitor")The Grand Inquisitor, in Ivan's prose poem

To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's.

GenuineFyodor DostoevskyCrime and PunishmentPart 3, chapter 1Dmitri Razumikhin

If there is no God, then I am God.

GenuineFyodor DostoevskyDemonsPart 3, chapter 6 ("A Busy Night"), section 2Kirillov

The whole work of man really seems to consist in nothing but proving to himself every minute that he is a man and not a piano-key!

GenuineFyodor DostoevskyNotes from UndergroundPart 1 ("Underground"), chapter 8The Underground Man, the unnamed narrator

There are three powers, three powers alone, able to conquer and to hold captive for ever the conscience of these impotent rebels for their happiness: miracle, mystery and authority.

GenuineFyodor DostoevskyThe Brothers KaramazovPart 2, Book 5, chapter 5 ("The Grand Inquisitor")The Grand Inquisitor, in Ivan's prose poem

Money is coined liberty, and so it is ten times dearer to the man who is deprived of freedom.

GenuineFyodor DostoevskyThe House of the DeadPart 1, chapter 1 ("The House of the Dead")

Starting from unlimited freedom, I arrive at unlimited despotism.

GenuineFyodor DostoevskyDemonsPart 2, chapter 7 ("A Meeting"), section 2Shigalyov (Shigalov in Garnett), a gloomy theorist in Pyotr Verkhovensky's circle