The House Of The Dead Quotes
"The Russian nation is a new and wonderful phenomenon in the history of mankind."
"Each European nation is an enemy to its own welfare and that of the world in general."
"The Russian adapts himself with ease to the play of contemporary thought."
"There is no denying that the people are morally ill, with a grave, although not a mortal, malady."
"We see the rigorous sincerity of his record again in the sheer autobiography contained in the present work, The House of the Dead."
"If one would truly fathom how deep that reality is, and what its phenomenon in literature amounts to, one should turn again to that favourite idyllic book of youth."
"Yes, man is a pliable animal—he must be so defined—a being who gets accustomed to everything!"
"Hard labour, as it is now carried on, presents no interest to the convict; but it has its utility."
"I remember the first alms, a small piece of money, that I received."
"Animal insensibility carried to such a point is most remarkable—it is, indeed, phenomenal."
"I shall never forget a certain parricide, formerly a nobleman and a public functionary."
"The criminal who has revolted against society, hates it, and considers himself in the right."
"But let him be constrained to pour water from one vessel into another...then I am persuaded that at the end of a few days the prisoner would strangle himself."
"The convict is half-consolled if he can ring a few kopecks in his pocket."
"Denunciation, however, flourishes in the convict prison."
"For several months together, he will weary himself out while looking forward to such a debauch as the one which has now disappeared in the past."
"Little by little he regains courage while waiting for such another day, still far off, but which ultimately will arrive."
"The dawn of this day so impatiently awaited, has just appeared."
"However careful the convicts may be in watching over their companions in debauchery, it sometimes happens that the Major or the officer on guard notices what is going on."
"He had dreamt of them during the endless winter nights, during his hardest labour, and the perspective had supported him under his severest trials."
"The prisoners are clever, wide-awake people, who are up to everything."
"I knew one young convict, an ex-soldier, sentenced for murder, who was to receive the maximum of rods."
"A man’s life is miserable, he has never, perhaps, been able to satisfy his hunger."
"The act of aggression is explained; it has a cause, an object."
"But why think about questions that are insoluble?"
"Some of them were men who would stand no nonsense, and forgive no one voluntarily or involuntarily."
"He was called the Sapper, because he had served in the Engineers."
"Many of them were intelligent and energetic, and reached the point they were aiming at—pre-eminence, that is to say, and moral influence over their companions."
"I saw from the first that they would despise me, if I adopted any other course."
"He had been there for a long time, belonged to no one, looked upon everyone as his master."
"He was a good-sized black dog, spotted with white, not very old, with intelligent eyes, and a bushy tail."
"He lives also in a way, but not being condemned to a fixed number of years, he takes a vaguer view of his situation than the one who is imprisoned for a definite term."
"All these gifts were accepted with equal gratitude, without reference to the value or the giver."
"The division excited neither protest nor annoyance. It was made honestly, equitably."
"Every one was satisfied. No objection was made by any one."
"The convicts, on receiving the offerings, took off their caps and thanked the donors with low bows."
"Numbers of convicts fulfilled their religious duties, but these were for the most part old men."
"The Major saw the Commandant to the door, and then ordered the convicts to begin dinner."
"The prisoner, who an hour beforehand was holding his sides with laughter, now sobbed in a corner, exceedingly drunk."
"The convicts did not fear the old soldiers, but men were placed on the look-out in case the under officer should suddenly come in."
"The convicts at once expressed a desire to send him two loaves of new bread, still hot."
"In a word, the imagination of the convicts, above all after their first success, went so far as to make them think that rewards would be distributed to them."
"You must go, you know you are cured now, and we have no place for you, we are very much cramped here, etc."
"Come, you have had your rest; now go, you must not take liberties."
"Painful is the minute which precedes such a punishment; so painful, that perhaps I am wrong in taxing with cowardice those convicts who fear it."
"The habit of receiving floggings helps in some cases to give intrepidity and decision to convicts."
"I was beaten for the least thing, Alexander Petrovitch."
"I cannot count them, nor can anyone else; there are not figures enough."
"Do you know, Alexander Petrovitch, when I dream at night, I always dream that I am being flogged."
"It is impossible, I sometimes thought, that they can be conscious of their guilt, and not acknowledge the justice of their punishment."
"Blood and power intoxicate; they aid the development of callousness and debauchery."
"But as for the 200 which I had still to receive, they might have struck as hard as they liked—they were worth 2,000; I only laughed at them."
"This somewhat literary formula exactly represents the act in question."
"No escaped prisoner ever hopes to become a perfectly free man, for he knows that it is nearly impossible."
"Often did I ask to be sent to the hospital, when there was no need of it, merely to be out of the punishment part of the place."
"The joy diffused throughout all Nature, translated themselves within my soul into a more than doubled melancholy and nervous irritability."
"Each section was composed of about thirty men. This week was a great solace to me."
"I myself was in that place of the common people, no, not in their place, for we who were there were in chains and degradation."
"The convicts prayed with deep fervour; every one of them had with him his poor farthing for a little candle."
"I wanted, when I left the place, really to live, not to be half-dead."
"All the other workyards were in the fortress itself, or in its neighbourhood; and the fortress, from the earliest days I was there, was the object of my hatred."
"Freedom in idea always seemed to us who were there something more free than it ever can be in reality."
"I felt myself more and more solitary, and though the solitude was awful I came to love it."
"Prisoners always exaggerate when they think of freedom and look on a free man."
"I was a convict of the 'special section,' a creature forever apart."
"I began to devour it at night, when the doors were closed, and read it till the break of day."
"How much joyless youth, how much strength for which use there was none, was buried, lost in those walls!"
"Yes, there were indeed arrears, if the word is not too weak."
"Liberty! New life! Resurrection from the dead! Unspeakable moment!"
"I looked at him; it was clear that he had not the least comprehension of my meaning."