To crush, to annihilate a man utterly, to inflict on him the most terrible punishment so that the most ferocious murderer would shudder at it beforehand, one need only give him work of an absolutely, completely useless and irrational character.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

House of the Dead

More information about this quote

Topic

Alienating work Alienation Absurdity Shitty jobs Work

Author

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Source

House of the Dead

Medium

Novel

Language

Russian

Time

1862 1860s 19th century

Occupation

Novelist Writer

From

Russia Europe

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. "Записки из Мёртвого дома [The House of the Dead]." Vremya, 1860-1862.

Current Citation

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. The House of the Dead, translated by David McDuff. Penguin Classics, 1986.

Illustrated Quote

A quote by Fyodor Dostoevsky about alienating work: “To crush, to annihilate a man utterly, to inflict on him the most…”
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A quote by Fyodor Dostoevsky about alienating work: “To crush, to annihilate a man utterly, to inflict on him the most…”
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A quote by Fyodor Dostoevsky about alienating work: “To crush, to annihilate a man utterly, to inflict on him the most…”
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Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote by Fyodor Dostoevsky

But what will become of men then? I asked him, without God and immortal life?

Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Brothers Karamazov

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Read The Brothers Karamazov at Project Gutenberg
More information about this quote
Topic
Decline of religion Death of God Existence of God God

Author

Fyodor Dostoevsky
Source
The Brothers Karamazov
Medium
Novel
Statement Type
Question
Language
Russian
Time
1880 1880s 19th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. "Братья Карамазовы [The Brothers Karamazov]." The Russian Messenger, Jan. 1879 - Nov. 1880. Serial.

Current Citation

Dostoevsky, Feodor. The Brothers Karamazov, translated by David McDuff. Penguin Classics, 2003.

Another quote from the 1860s

Theory of the true civilization.
It is not to be found in gas or steam or table turning, It consists in the diminution of the traces of original sin.

Charles Baudelaire

More information about this quote
Topic
Civilization

Author

Charles Baudelaire
Language
French
Time
1867 1860s 19th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Baudelaire, Charles. Mon Coeur mis a nu [My Naked Heart]. Paris, 1887, no. 58.

Current Citation

Baudelaire, Charles. "My Heart Laid Bare." Late Fragments: Flares, My Heart Laid Bare, Prose Poems, Belgium Disrobed, translated by Richard Sieburth. Yale University Press, 2022, no. 58.

Another quote about Work

The test of a vocation is the love of the drudgery it involves.

Logan Pearsall Smith

More information about this quote
Topic
Vocation Work

Author

Logan Pearsall Smith
Language
English
Time
1931 1930s 20th century
Authentication Score 3
Citation

Smith, Logan Pearsall. "Art and Letters." Afterthoughts. Constable & Company, 1931.

Another quote from 1862

I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.

Abraham Lincoln

Emancipation Proclamation

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Read the Emancipation Proclamation at umich.edu
More information about this quote
Topic
End of slavery Slavery
Speaker
Abraham Lincoln
Source
Emancipation Proclamation
Genre
Political literature
Language
English
Time
1862 1860s 19th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "Final Emancipation Proclamation," or "Proclamation 95." 22 Sept. 1862.

Current Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "Final Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863." Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1859-1865, edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher. Library of America, 1989.

Another quote originally in Russian

If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

The Gulag Archipelago

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More information about this quote
Topic
Duality of man Good and evil

Author

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Source
The Gulag Archipelago
Genre
Political literature Historical literature
Language
Russian
Time
1973 1970s 20th century
Authentication Score 3
Citation

Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr. Архипелаг ГУЛАГ, Arkhipelag GULAG [The Gulag Archipelago: An Experiment in Literary Investigation]. Vol. 1, YMCA-Press, 1973.