Dostoevsky Quote by Elif Batuman
““There are strange friendships,” Dostoevsky writes, with reference to Stepan Trofimovich and Varvara Petrovna in Demons. “Two friends are almost ready to eat each other, they live like that all their lives, and yet they cannot part. Parting is even impossible: the friend who waxes capricious and breaks it off will be the first to fall sick and die.” A marvelous passage, communicating so economically the diabolical undercurrent of certain friendships, their weird fatalism.””
About This Quote
Source Book: Demons by Fyodor Dostoevsky, 1872
A friendship can be intensely co‑dependent, bordering on destructive, where separation feels impossible and illness follows betrayal.
In simple terms: Intense, co‑dependent friendships can be fatal.
Key Takeaway
Recognize and set healthy boundaries.
Themes
friendship
dependency
psychology
Mood
anxious
reflective
Type
literary
psychological
When to use this quote
- marriage
- business partnerships
- family ties
- creative collaborations
Key Concepts
co‑dependency
fatalism
emotional contagion
Questions to Reflect On
- Do you feel trapped in a relationship?
- How can you nurture independence?
A Different Perspective
Such bonds may also provide support and growth, not just doom.
![“[Dostoyevsky] eloquently proves that heartless ideas are often a source of immorality: they bring with them destructiveness, hatred, cynicism, and misanthropy. The novelist also carefully examines moral indifference and corruption which leads him to the questions: “What if reason takes the side of…” quote by George L. Kline](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/c87/george-l-kline-239544_dostoevsky_dostoyevsky-eloquently-proves-that-heart_53378.jpg)
