zoe olesker’s Reviews > Notes from Underground > Status Update

“i don’t respect myself. how can a man of consciousness have the slightest respect for himself?”

“it’s their sicknesses that everyone takes pride in, and i, perhaps, more than anyone”

“i will not leave petersburg!”

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“but anyhow: what can a decent man speak about with the most pleasure?
answer: about himself.
so then i, too, will speak about myself”

“i am a sick man… i am a wicked man. an unattractive man. i think my liver hurts. however, i don’t know a fig about my sickness, and am not sure what it is that hurts me. […] if i don’t get treated, it is out of spite.”

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“i never even managed to become anything: neither wicked nor good, neither a scoundrel nor an honest man, neither a hero nor an insect.”