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 Shitty jobs Work

Author

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Medium

Novel

Language

Russian

Time

1862 1860s 19th century

Occupation

Novelist Writer

From

Russia Europe

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. House of the Dead. Translated by Constance Garnett. 1862. Part 1, Ch. 1.

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

We always imagine eternity as something beyond our conception, something vast. But why must it be vast? Instead of all that, what if it’s one little room, like a bath house in the country, black and grimy and spiders in every corner, and that’s all eternity is?

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Crime and Punishment

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More information about this quote
Topic
Eternity The afterlife

Author

Fyodor Dostoevsky
Source
Crime and Punishment
Medium
Novel
Language
Russian
Time
1866 1860s 19th century

Another quote from the 1860s

England is the mother of parliaments.

John Bright

Speech in Birmingham, January 18, 1865

More information about this quote
Topic
England Government
Medium
Speech
Genre
Political speech
Language
English
Time
1865 1860s 19th century

Another quote about Work

Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush. He surveyed the fence, and all gladness left him and a deep melancholy settled down upon his spirit. Thirty yards of board fence nine feet high. Life to him seemed hollow, and existence but a burden.

Mark Twain

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

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More information about this quote
Topic
Alienating work Work

Author

Mark Twain
Source
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Medium
Novel
Genre
Children's literature Adventure novel
Language
English
Time
1876 1870s 19th century

Another quote from 1862

It is not the prize that can make us happy; it is not even the winning of the prize....[It is] the struggle, the long hot hour of the honest fight.... There is no human bliss equal to twelve hours of work with only six hours in which to do it.

Anthony Trollope

Orley Farm

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More information about this quote
Topic
Benefits of adversity Adversity Hard work

Author

Anthony Trollope
Medium
Novel
Language
English
Time
1862 1860s 19th century