the lawgivers and founders of mankind, starting from the most ancient and going on to the Lycurguses, the Solons, the Muhammads, the Napoleons, and so forth, that all of them to a man were criminals, from the fact alone that in giving a new law they thereby violated the old one, held sacred by society and passed down from their fathers, and they certainly did not stop at shedding blood either, if it happened that blood (sometimes quite innocent and shed valiantly for the old law) could help them.

— Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment

When our life crackles and sparks like a torch, we curse the necessity of spending eight hours in useless sleep. When we have been deprived of everything, when we have been deprived of hope, then bless you, fourteen hours of sleep!

— Roman Gelperin, On Rotting Prison Straw

…very few people know themselves so well and live their lives so in tune with their intuition that they avoid self-deception.

— Janice Fraser, Jason Fraser, and Eric Ries, Farther, Faster, and Far Less Drama

I do not respect myself. Can a man of perception respect himself at all?

— Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes From the Underground

…as Bentham notes, many grown animals are far more intelligent than newborn babies, but we accord newborn babies rights.

— Anja Publications, Philosophy Now