The Brothers Karamazov Suffering Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph). We used Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky's translation.

Quote #4

[Katerina] spoke with a sort of strain, in a sort of pale, forced ecstasy [...] "I will be his god, to whom he shall pray – that at least, he owes me for his betrayal." [4.5.10)

Quote #3 from earlier in the chapter has prepared the reader to see this passage as an instance in which Katerina's desire to be a "god" is shown as ridiculous.

Quote #5

"And if the suffering of children goes to make up the sum of suffering needed to buy truth, then I assert beforehand that the whole of truth is not worth such a price." (5.4.21)

Ivan poses suffering as a theological problem here: if sweet innocent children suffer, how can there be a just God? This sounds a false note, though – Ivan doesn't really seem to care about suffering children.

Quote #6

But at the moment he could no longer reason [...] his soul was troubled, troubled to the point of suffering. (8.6.2)

Personal suffering leads Dmitri to lose his ability to think rationally.