“I have made up my mind to be polite and sincere to everyone; more cannot be asked of me.”


Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin

This is stated by the protagonist of Dostoyevsky's The Idiot, hands down one of my favourite books.

This line is a fairly good insight into the book as a whole, it charts the life of someone who takes it upon themselves to be constantly kind and sincere, and how he is impacted by and has impact on a world that has evolved to be self-serving and to conduct their business either in their own heads or in private collusion.

It is a truly wonderful piece of writing. I also feel a slight kinship with him as we both have epilepsy.

 

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