The Most Beautiful Global Literary Quotes

Quotes by Fyodor Dostoevsky

The literary genius and philosopher Fyodor Dostoevsky has garnered international acclaim for his works. Here are some of his most notable quotes:

“Above all, do not lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lies comes to a point where he cannot distinguish the truth within him or around him, losing all respect for himself and others. When respect is lost, love ceases to exist.”
“The soul is healed by being with children.”
“How can you live without a story to tell?”
“Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is the scariest thing for people.”
“A great deal of misery has come into the world due to bewilderment and unspoken words.”
“I believe, like a child, that suffering will come to an end and everything will be compensated, that all the humiliating absurdities of human contradictions will vanish like a pitiable mirage, and something immensely valuable will happen, enough for all hearts, to end all resentment and atone for all of humanity’s sins and the blood spilled. This will not only make forgiveness possible but will justify everything that has occurred.”
“I couldn’t become anything—neither good nor bad, neither a scoundrel nor a man of integrity, neither a hero nor a bug. Now, I spend my days in my corner, mockingly reminding myself that an intelligent person cannot become anything serious, and that only a fool can amount to something.”

Quotes by George Orwell

Here are some of the most famous quotes from the English writer George Orwell:

“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”
“Perhaps one doesn’t want to be loved as much as one wants to be understood.”
“Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.”
“Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.”
“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”
“The essence of humanity is not to strive for perfection.”
“Humanity’s choice lies between freedom and happiness; for the vast majority, happiness is better.”
“Truth exists in the human mind, not anywhere else.”
“Generally, people want to be good, but they are not good enough, and they will not always be good.”
“People can only be happy when they do not assume that the goal of life is happiness.”
“Seeing the tip of one’s own nose requires a constant struggle.”
“If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself.”
“It is a fact that no one who gains power intends to relinquish it.”

Quotes by Paulo Coelho

No one can resist the charm of Paulo Coelho’s writings; here are some of his most captivating quotes:

“When you truly want something, the entire universe conspires to help you achieve it.”
“The possibility of realizing a dream is what makes life interesting.”
“When we love, we strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”
“The only thing that makes a dream impossible is the fear of failure.”
“The secret of life is falling seven times and getting up eight times.”
“Waiting is painful; forgetting is painful; but not knowing what to do is the worst kind of suffering.”
“The simple things are the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them.”
“It seems that everyone has a clear idea of how others should lead their lives, but none about their own.”
“We can never judge the lives of others, because each person knows only their own pain and renunciation.”
“When you find your path, do not be afraid; you need courage to make mistakes. Disappointment, defeat, and despair are the tools that God uses to show us the way.”

Quotes by Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche excelled in various fields of thought. Here are some of his most recognized quotes:

“Without music, life would be a mistake.”
“It is not the lack of love, but the lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.”
“I am not angry that you lied to me; I am angry that from now on I can’t believe you.”
“It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also having to remember my reasons for them.”
“Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they do not want to destroy their illusions.”
“He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.”
“The snake that cannot shed its skin perishes; so do minds that are prevented from changing their opinions.”
“No one can build you the bridge you must cross to cross the river of life, only you alone.”
“The advantage of a bad memory is that one frequently hears the same thing for the first time.”
“I am a forest, and a night full of dark trees; but whoever is not afraid of my darkness will find banks full of roses under the cypress trees.”
“Thinking of suicide is a great consolation; by this means, one can pass the long night.”
“Every deep thinker fears being understood more than being misunderstood.”
“Thoughts are the shadows of our feelings – always darker, emptier, and simpler.”

Quotes by Franz Kafka

The author Franz Kafka is renowned for his dark, nightmarish novels. Here are some of his remarkable quotes:

“A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us.”
“Many books are like keys to unknown rooms within one’s own palace.”
“Youth is happy because it has the ability to see beauty. Anyone who retains the ability to see beauty never grows old.”
“You need not leave your room. Remain seated at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait. Do not even wait, be quiet, be still, and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked; it has no choice; it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.”
“By believing passionately in something that does not exist, we create it. Uncreated is that which we did not desire enough.”
“There is an infinite amount of hope in the universe, but not for us.”
“He is very much afraid of death because he hasn’t lived enough yet.”
“We picture things in order to draw them out of our minds; stories are a means of closing our eyes.”
“First impressions are never reliable.”
“I need solitude for my writing, not like a hermit – that would be too little – but like a dead man.”
“One should not just accept everything as true; one should only accept what is necessary when it is necessary. Yes, the lie has become a universal principle.”

Quotes by Carl Jung

Here are some notable quotes from the thinker and scientist Carl Jung:

“Meeting two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.”
“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.”
“Your vision will only become clear when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”
“You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.”
“The feeling of loneliness comes not from being alone, but from not being able to communicate thoughts that seem important or by holding opinions that others find unacceptable.”
“People will do anything, no matter how absurd, to avoid facing their own souls. A man is enlightened not by imagining shapes of light but by making the darkness conscious.”
“Midlife is the time to let go of an over-inflated ego and contemplate the deeper meaning of human existence.”
“Art is a kind of innate drive that seizes a human being and makes him its instrument. The artist is not a person with a free will who is having a play of his own intellectual designs but is a person who lets art achieve its aims through him.”
“Everything depends on how we look at things, not on how they are in themselves.”

Quotes by Haruki Murakami

The globally celebrated Japanese writer Haruki Murakami has offered many profound quotes. Here are some of the finest:

“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.”
“Once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain: when you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what the storm is all about.”
“Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional.”
“Why do people have to feel so lonely? What’s the point of it all? Millions of people in this world yearning for others, yet isolating themselves. Is this earth merely for feeding one’s sense of loneliness?”
“No one enjoys being alone too much; I just don’t try very hard to make friends. It only leads to disappointment.”
“Sometimes, when I look at you, I feel like I’m staring at a distant star. It’s dazzling, yet its light comes from eons long past. That star may not even exist anymore, but its light feels more real to me than anything else.”
“I’ve discovered that silence is indeed something that can be heard.”
“No matter how hard you try, people will get hurt when the time comes for them to be hurt.”