White Nights Quotes

“I am a dreamer. I know so little of real life that I just can’t help re-living such moments as these in my dreams, for such moments are something I have very rarely experienced. I am going to dream about you the whole night, the whole week, the whole year.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, White Nights

“May your sky always be clear, may your dear smile always be bright and happy, and may you be for ever blessed for that moment of bliss and happiness which you gave to another lonely and grateful heart. Isn't such a moment sufficient for the whole of one's life?”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, White Nights

“¿Entristecer con mi presencia su felicidad, ser un reproche, marchitar las flores que se puso en los cabellos para ir al altar? ¡Jamás, jamás! ¡Que su cielo sea sereno, que su sonrisa sea clara! Yo te bendigo por el instante de alegría que diste al transeúnte melancólico, extraño, solitario… ¡Dios mío! ¿Un instante de felicidad no es suficiente para toda una vida?”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky

“I was ready to leave with every load, with every worthy individual of respectable appearance hiring a cab; but absolutely nobody invited me, not one; it was as if they had forgotten me, as if I was actually something alien to them!”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, A Gentle Creature and Other Stories

“So it is that when we are unhappy we sense more acutely the unhappiness of others; rather than dispersing, the emotion becomes focused...”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, A Gentle Creature and Other Stories

“It was a wonderful night, such a night as is only possible when we are young, dear reader. The sky was so starry, so bright that, looking at it, one could not help asking oneself whether ill-humoured and capricious people could live under such a sky.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky

“Do you know that you have reconciled me to myself for a long time to come now? Do you know that I shall no longer think so ill of myself as I am sometimes apt to do? Do you know that I may not despair any longer that I have committed a crime and a sin in my life, for a life like mine is a crime and a sin? And pray do not think I have exaggerated anything to you, for heaven’s sake do not think that, Nastenka, because at times I am possessed by melancholy, such utter melancholy . . . . Because when these spells come over me, I begin to think that I am incapable of ever starting to live a new, a real life, because it seems to me that I have already lost all touch, all sense of the real and the actual, because I had been selling my soul, because my nights of fantasy are now followed by moments of soberness, and they are frightening! And meanwhile, you can hear life clamouring and eddying about you in a human whirlpool, you can hear, you can see that their world has not been made to order, that it will not be shattered like a dream or a vision, that their life is ever youthful, ever rejuvenescent, and that every hour in it differs from the last, whereas timorous fancy is bleak and monotonous to the point of boredom, a slave to every shadow and notion, a slave to the first cloud that blots out the sun and wrings with distress the heart of every true man.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, White Nights

“In these corners, [...] quite a different life is lived, quite unlike the life that is surging around us, but such as perhaps exists in some unknown realm, not among us in our serious, over-serious, time. Well, that life is a mixture of something purely fantastic, fervently ideal, with something [...] dingily prosaic and ordinary, not to say incredibly vulgar.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky

“And now I would remember you once more, show you forth,
Oh you whom I knew like a flower
Of which I didn’t know the name, oh spirited-away,
Exquisite playmate of an unascendable scream.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke, Sonnets to Orpheus

“Ar žinote, kad aš dabar mėgstu prisiminti ir tam tikru laiku aplankyti tas vietas, kur kitados esu buvęs saviškai laimingas, mėgstu kurti savąją dabartį pagal tai, kas yra nebegrįžtamai praėję, ir dažnai slampinėju kaip šešėlis be reikalo ir be tikslo, nuliūdęs ir nusiminęs, Peterburgo užkampiais bei gatvėmis. Ir vis kokie atsiminimai! Pavyzdžiui, prisi­meni, kad štai čia lygiai prieš metus, lygiai tuo pačiu laiku, tą pačią valandą, šituo pačiu šaligatviu taip pat vaikštinėjai vienišas, taip pat nusiminęs kaip ir dabar! Ir prisimeni, kad ir tuomet svajonės buvo liūdnos, ir nors ir pirma buvo ne geriau, bet vis tartum jauti, kad gal ir lengviau, ir ramiau buvo gyventi, kad nebuvo tų sun­ kių minčių, kurios dabar prikibo prie manęs; kad nebu­ vo sąžinės graužimo, niūraus, rūškano graužimo, kuris dabar nei dieną, nei naktį neduoda ramybės. Ir klausi save: kurgi tavo svajonės? Ir linguoji galvą, sakai: kaip greitai bėga metai! Ir vėl klausi save: o ką gi tu nu­ veikei per tuos savo metus? kur palaidojai savo gražiau­siąjį laiką? Gyvenai tu ar ne? Žiūrėk, sakai sau, žiūrėk, kaip pasaulyje darosi šalta. Dar praeis keleri metai, ir po jų ateis niūri vienatvė, atslinks kretanti senatvė su lazda, o po jų maudulys ir nusiminimas. Nublanks tavo fantastinis pasaulis, sustings, nuvys tavo svajonės ir nu­ byrės kaip geltoni lapai nuo medžių... O Nastenka! Juk bus liūdna likti vienam, visiškai vienam, ir netgi netu­ rėti ko gailėtis—nieko, ničnieko... nes viskas, ko ne­ tekai, visa tai, viskas buvo niekis, kvailas, tuščias nulis, buvo vien tik svaja!”
― Fyodor Dostoyevski

“Gal taip ir būtų tęsęsi tie mūsų pasisėdėjimai baltosiomis naktimis, bet, kaip jau minėjau, ji buvo vyresnė už mane ir žinojo, kad naktys, net pačios balčiausios, ne tik pasisėdėjimams skirtos.”
― Juozas Požėra, Žuvys nepažįsta savo vaikų

“یعنی چه؟ یعنی هیچ‌وقت هیچ‌کس را نمی‌دیدید؟" +
"!نه، دیدن که چرا! همه را می‌بینم. ولی با این همه تنهایم" -”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, شب‌های روشن و پنج داستان دیگر

“С самого утра меня стала мучить какая-то удивительная тоска. Мне вдруг показалось, что меня, одинокого, все покидают и что все от меня отступаются. Оно, конечно, всякий вправе спросить: кто же эти все? потому что вот уже восемь лет, как я живу в Петербурге, и почти ни одного знакомства не умел завести”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, White Nights

“There is something inexpressibly touching in nature round Petersburg, when at the approach of spring she puts forth all her might, all the powers bestowed on her by Heaven, when she breaks into leaf, decks herself out and spangles herself with flowers...”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky

“I walked along singing, for when I am happy I am always humming to myself like every happy man who has no friend or acquaintance with whom to share his joy.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky

“Delighted that my girl had intelligence; that is never out of place in company with beauty.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky

“Delighted that my girl had intelligence; that is never out of place in company with beauty.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, White Nights

“I walked along singing, for when I am happy I am always humming to myself like every happy man who has no friend or acquaintance with him to share his joy.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, White Nights

“There is something in expressly touching in nature round Petersburg, when at the approach of spring she puts forth all her might, all the powers bestowed on her by Heaven, when she breaks into leaf, decks herself out and spangles herself with flowers.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, White Nights

“[...] he is the artist of his own life, and creates it for himself every hour to suit his latest whim.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, White Nights

“And I realise now, more than ever, that I have lost all my best years!”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, White Nights

“Do you know that, maybe, I shall leave off grieving over the crime and sin of my life? for such a life is a crime and a sin. And do not imagine that I have been exaggerating anything—for goodness’ sake don't think that, Nastenka: for at times such misery comes over me, such misery.... Because it begins to seem to meat such times that I am incapable of beginning a life in real life, because it has seemed to me that I have lost all touch, all instinct for the actual, the real; because at last I have cursed myself; because after my fantastic nights I have moments of returning sobriety, which are awful!”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, White Nights

“I walked along singing, for when I am happy I am always humming to myself like every man who has no friend or acquaintance with him to share his joy.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky

“There is something inn expressly touching in nature round Petersburg, when at the approach of spring she puts forth all her might, a;; the powers bestowed on her by Heaven, when she break into lead, decks herself out and spangled herself with flowers.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky

“[…] he is the artist of his own life, and created it for himself every hours to suit his latest whim.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky

“And I realise now, more than ever, that I have lost all my best years!”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky

“Do you know that, maybe, I shall leave off
grieving over the crime and sin of my life? for such a life is a crime and a sin. And do not imagine that I have
been exaggerating anything—for goodness’ sake don't
think that, Nastenka: for at times such misery comes
over me, such misery.... Because it begins to seem to me at such times that I am incapable of beginning a life in real life, because it has seemed to me that I have lost all touch, all instinct for the actual, the real; because at last I have cursed myself; because after my fantastic nights I have moments of returning sobriety, which are awful!”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky

“Do you know that, maybe, I shall leave off
grieving over the crime and sin of my life? for such a life
is a crime and a sin. And do not imagine that I have
been exaggerating anything—for goodness’ sake don't
think that, Nastenka: for at times such misery comes
over me, such misery.... Because it begins to seem to me
at such times that I am incapable of beginning a life in
real life, because it has seemed to me that I have lost all
touch, all instinct for the actual, the real; because at last
I have cursed myself; because after my fantastic nights I
have moments of returning sobriety, which are awful!
Meanwhile, you hear the whirl and roar of the crowd in
the vortex of life around you; you hear, you see, men
living in reality; you see that life for them is not forbid-
den, that their life does not float away like a dream, like
a vision; that their life is being eternally renewed, eter-
nally youthful, and not one hour of it is the same as
another; while fancy is so spiritless, monotonous to
vulgarity and easily scared, the slave of shadows, of the
idea, the slave of the first cloud that shrouds the sun,
and overcasts with depression the true Petersburg heart
so devoted to the sun—and what is fancy in depression!”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky

“You know it will be sad to be left alone, utterly alone, and to have not even anything to regret - nothing, absolutely nothing... for all that you have lost, all that, all was nothing, stupid, simple, nullity, there has been nothing but dreams.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky

“You know it will be sad to be left alone, utterly alone, and to have not even anything to regret - nothing, absolutely nothing... for all that you have lost, all that, all was nothing, stupid, simple nullity, there has been nothing but dreams.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, Fyodor Dostoevsky - White Nights and Other Stories: “The greatest happiness is to know the source of unhappiness”