It was not only that I could not become spiteful, I did not know how to become anything; neither spiteful nor kind, neither a rascal nor an honest ma… - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

I could not become anything; neither good nor bad; neither a scoundrel nor an honest man; neither a hero nor an insect. And now I am eking out my days in my corner, taunting myself with the bitter and entirely useless consolation that an intelligent man cannot seriously become anything, that only a fool can become something.

an intelligent man cannot become anything seriously, and it is only the fool who becomes anything.

We sometimes encounter people, even perfect strangers, who begin to interest us at first sight, somehow suddenly, all at once, before a word has been spoken

Pass us by, and forgive us our happiness

So long as man remains free he strives for nothing so incessantly and so painfully as to find some one to worship.