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Life
He stood before a firing squad, survived, and came back to write the books that asked whether God exists, whether murder can be justified, and whether suffering has meaning.
He announced that God was dead and no one had yet understood what that meant. He was right on both counts.
Connection
Fyodor Dostoyevsky psychological depth and nihilism Friedrich Nietzsche — Nietzsche called Dostoyevsky the only psychologist from whom he had learned anything: 'the greatest psychologist of all time.' Notes from Underground's underground man, who asserts his freedom by refusing all rational calculation, prefigures Nietzsche's critique of utilitarian morality.
Ideas
Words
“Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart.”
“The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.”
“God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.”
“What does not kill me makes me stronger.”
Key Moments
1849
Arrest and mock execution
1850-54
Four years in Siberian labor camp
1880
The Brothers Karamazov published
1883-85
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
3 January 1889
Collapse in Turin
Works
Crime and Punishment
The Brothers Karamazov
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Beyond Good and Evil