Quotes · Quote card

Quotation from The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky

“What if I were not to die! What if I could go back to life—what eternity!”

Fyodor Dostoevsky (spoken by Prince Myshkin, recounting a reprieved man's thoughts)

The Idiot, Part I, Chapter V, trans. Constance Garnett

Portrait of Fyodor Dostoevsky

Myshkin describes to the Epanchin ladies the last minutes of a man condemned to be shot and then reprieved.

Citation: "What if I were not to die! What if I could go back to life—what eternity!" — Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Idiot, Part I, Chapter V, trans. Constance Garnett. (id the-idiot-q2)

Portrait: Portrait of Fedor Dostoyevsky, Vasily Perov, Public domain.

Download card (PNG)

Quote card: What if I were not to die! What if I could go back to life—what eternity!