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StillnessQuote

The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, 1880

Literature

The story behind the card

The words belong to a character, not to the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821–1881) himself. In ‘The Grand Inquisitor’, a chapter of The Brothers Karamazov (1880), Ivan Karamazov tells his younger brother Alyosha, a novice monk, a story he has made up: Christ returns to 16th-century Seville and is arrested by the aged Grand Inquisitor. The Inquisitor argues that people cannot bear freedom, and that without a firm sense of what to live for they would rather destroy themselves than go on living, even with bread in abundance. The card follows Andrew MacAndrew's 1970 English translation.

Türkçe oku
İnsan varoluşunun sırrı yalnızca hayatta kalmakta değil, uğruna yaşanacak bir şey bulmaktadır.
Fyodor Dostoyevski, Karamazov Kardeşler, 1880

Bu sözler Rus romancı Fyodor Dostoyevski'nin (1821–1881) kendisine değil, bir karakterine aittir. Karamazov Kardeşler'in (1880) “Büyük Engizisyoncu” bölümünde İvan Karamazov, manastırda rahip adayı olan küçük kardeşi Alyoşa'ya kendi uydurduğu bir hikâyeyi anlatır: İsa 16. yüzyılda Sevilla'ya geri döner, yaşlı Büyük Engizisyoncu da onu tutuklatır. Engizisyoncu'ya göre insanlar özgürlüğü taşıyamaz; ne için yaşadıklarını bilmezlerse, ekmekleri bol olsa bile yaşamaktansa kendilerini yok etmeyi seçerler. Karttaki İngilizce metin, Andrew MacAndrew'un 1970 tarihli çevirisine dayanır.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Fyodor Dostoevsky
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