“And, indeed, I will ask on my own account here, an idle question: which is better - cheap happiness or exalted sufferings? Well, which is better?”
― Notes from Underground, White Nights, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, and Selections from The House of the Dead
― Notes from Underground, White Nights, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, and Selections from The House of the Dead
“I did not understand that she was hiding her feelings under irony, that this is usually the last refuge of modest and chaste-souled people when the privacy of their soul is coarsely and intrusively invaded, and that their pride makes them refuse to surrender till the last moment and shrink from giving expression to their feelings before you.
to have guessed the truth from the timidity with which she had repeatedly approached her sarcasm, only bringing herself to utter it at last with an effort.”
― Notes from Underground, White Nights, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, and Selections from The House of the Dead
to have guessed the truth from the timidity with which she had repeatedly approached her sarcasm, only bringing herself to utter it at last with an effort.”
― Notes from Underground, White Nights, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, and Selections from The House of the Dead
“I used to imagine adventures for myself, I invented a life, so that I could at least exist somehow.”
― Notes from Underground, White Nights, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, and Selections from The House of the Dead
― Notes from Underground, White Nights, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, and Selections from The House of the Dead
“I haven't any objection to your thoroughly despising me, right now, because I'm convinced you'll come to love me. You'll find I have some tremendous abysses, some huge, focused emotions that fools think of as vices, but you'll never find me lazy, and you'll never find me ungrateful. In a word, I'm neither a pawn nor a bishop, my young friend, but a castle.”
― Père Goriot
― Père Goriot
Eileen’s 2025 Year in Books
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