“Fathers and teachers, I ponder, "What is hell?" I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love.”

—  Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The Brothers Karamazov (1879–1880)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 4, 2022. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Fathers and teachers, I ponder, "What is hell?" I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love." by Fyodor Dostoyevsky?
Fyodor Dostoyevsky photo
Fyodor Dostoyevsky 155
Russian author 1821–1881

Related quotes

Clarence Darrow photo

“I have suffered from being misunderstood, but I would have suffered a hell of a lot more if I had been understood.”

Clarence Darrow (1857–1938) American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union

As quoted in Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do" by Peter McWilliams, from 2000 Years of Disbelief (1996) edited by James A Haught p. 817

Julian (emperor) photo

“I feel awe of the gods, I love, I revere, I venerate them, and in short have precisely the same feelings towards them as one would have towards kind masters or teachers or fathers or guardians or any beings of that sort.”

Julian (emperor) (331–363) Roman Emperor, philosopher and writer

"To the Cynic Heracleios" in The Works of the Emperor Julian (1913) edited by W. Heinemann, Vol. II, p. 93
General sources

André Malraux photo

“The attempt to force human beings to despise themselves… is what I call hell.”

André Malraux (1901–1976) French novelist, art theorist and politician

Section 2
La condition humaine [Man's Fate] (1933)

“Suffering is an excellent teacher, and Aeschylus says, "We learn by sufferings. "We are easily] up; sufferings keep us humble. We easily turn to worldly things. Sufferings make us turn to ( love ourselves; sufferings teach us to love God."”

Peter de Noronha (1897–1970) Indian businessman

The Pageant of Life (1964), On Suffering

Mukesh Ambani photo

“For me, this is a moment of re-dedication to the values, vision and goals of my father, teacher and mentor, Dhirubhai Ambani. To lead by love, by trust, and by example, I learnt these principles from him with humility.”

Mukesh Ambani (1957) Indian business magnate

Quoted in page=18
Mukesh Dhirajlal Ambani, Anil Dhirajlal Ambani

“As the French say, aimer est souffrir, to love is to suffer, and therefore, to say that love is essential to the Being of God is to say that in one way or another suffering is essential to his nature. That is to say something our forefathers would have declined to accept. They would have retorted that God, as Father, must be above or beyond suffering. If, however, we take seriously the declaration "God is love," how can we avoid the entailment that suffering is essential to the divine Being?”

Geddes MacGregor

He Who Lets Us Be: A Theology of Love (1975), p. 4

John Stuart Mill photo

“I will call no being good who is not what I mean when I apply that epithet to my fellow creatures; and if such a creature can sentence me to hell for not so calling him, to hell I will go.”

John Stuart Mill (1806–1873) British philosopher and political economist

Source: An examination of Sir William Hamilton's philosophy, and of the principal philosophical questions discussed in his writings

William Shakespeare photo

“Suffer love! A good ephitet! I do suffer love indeed, for I love thee against my will.”

William Shakespeare book Much Ado About Nothing

Source: Much Ado About Nothing

“I am unclear what a "role model" is, but those who used the term seemed to be saying that teachers are people children tend to emulate. In any event, many Miamians must have thought their children would become homosexual if subjected to homosexual teachers.
That prompted me to ponder teachers I haven't seen, and scarcely thought about, for decades, and for the first time I reflected on how their sex lives had affected my own. My first thought was that it was curious, perhaps perverse, that I have not turned out to be a spinster.”

Russell Baker (1925–2019) writer and satirst from the United States

"Role Models" (p.202)
So This Is Depravity (1980)

Related topics