--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: In Dostoevsky there were things…" description: "\"“In Dostoevsky there were things unbelievable and not to be believed, but some so true they changed you as you read them; frailty and madness, wickedne..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/981/ernest-hemingway-83_dostoevsky_in-dostoevsky-there-were-things-unbeliev_1393450.jpg" --- # In Dostoevsky there were things unbelievable and not to be… ![“In Dostoevsky there were things unbelievable and not to be believed, but some so true they changed you as you read them; frailty and madness, wickedness and saintliness, and the insanity of gambling were there to know as you knew the landscape and the roads in turgenev” quote by Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/981/ernest-hemingway-83_dostoevsky_in-dostoevsky-there-were-things-unbeliev_1393450.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/981/ernest-hemingway-83_dostoevsky_in-dostoevsky-there-were-things-unbeliev_1393450.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/981/ernest-hemingway-83_dostoevsky_in-dostoevsky-there-were-things-unbeliev_1393450.jpg) > ““In Dostoevsky there were things unbelievable and not to be believed, but some so true they changed you as you read them; frailty and madness, wickedness and saintliness, and the insanity of gambling were there to know as you knew the landscape and the roads in turgenev”” [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Hemingway notes that Dostoevsky’s work mixes the unbelievable with stark truth, revealing deep human frailty, madness, wickedness, saintliness, and the lure of gambling, contrasting it with Turgenev’s clearer landscapes. **In simple terms:** Dostoevsky blends extreme reality and fantasy, exposing human extremes and moral complexity, unlike Turgenev’s simpler scenes. Key Takeaway Recognize how extreme characters reveal deeper truths. Themes literature psychology human nature Mood reflective introspective Type analytical literary When to use this quote - reading classics - writing analysis - psychological insight - teaching literature Key Concepts existentialism moral ambiguity character study Questions to Reflect On - How do extreme characters help us understand ourselves? - What can we learn from contrasting literary styles? A Different Perspective The comparison may oversimplify Turgenev’s depth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Changed Read](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/changed-read-1824627/) [Dostoevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dostoevsky/) [Dostoevsky Things](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dostoevsky-things-4863898/) [Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hemingway/) [Reading](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reading/) [Saintliness Insanity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/saintliness-insanity-4863899/) [Things Unbelievable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/things-unbelievable-2330040/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) ## Related quotes > [There are many things that are unbelievable. Especially before breakfast, is it not? That is what one of your classics says. Six impossible things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agatha-christie/there-are-many-things-that-are-unbelievable-especially-before/) [Agatha Christie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agatha-christie/) > [“From "The Book That Changed My Life": -"But your journey is never over until you return from it to share with society what you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-ballard/from-the-book-that-changed-my-life-but-your-journey-is-never-over/) [Robert Ballard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-ballard/) > [If you want to be changed, read a good book.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/if-you-want-to-be-changed-read-a-good-book/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [ “\[W\]e are changed by what we read. Close that book, and you are not the same person anymore. Because of what you just read,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/w-e-are-changed-by-what-we-read-close-that-book-and-you-are-not-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Early on I came to realize something, and it came from the mail I received from kids. That is, kids at that pivotal age,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lois-lowry/early-on-i-came-to-realize-something-and-it-came-from-the-mail-i/) [Lois Lowry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lois-lowry/) > [“Bulahdeen ignored her. "I taught literature for nearly forty years. The books I read when I was twenty completely changed when I read them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-addison-allen/bulahdeen-ignored-her-i-taught-literature-for-nearly-forty-years-the/) [Sarah Addison Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-addison-allen/) > [“If the bulls were allowed to increase their knowledge as the bullfighter does, and if those bulls which are not killed in the allotted…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/if-the-bulls-were-allowed-to-increase-their-knowledge-as-the/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“When spring came, even the false spring, there were no problems except where to be happiest. The only thing that could spoil a day…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/when-spring-came-even-the-false-spring-there-were-no-problems-except/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“Only I have no luck any more. But who knows? Maybe today. Every day is a new day. It is better to be lucky.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/only-i-have-no-luck-any-more-but-who-knows-maybe-today-every-day-is-a/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“The dead do not need to rise. They are a part of the earth now and the earth can never be conquered. For the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/the-dead-do-not-need-to-rise-they-are-a-part-of-the-earth-now-and-the/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“It must be most dangerous then to be a man. It is indeed, madame, and but few survive it. ― Ernest Hemingway, Death in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/it-must-be-most-dangerous-then-to-be-a-man-it-is-indeed-madame-and/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“The priest was good but dull. The officers were not good but dull. The King was good but dull. The wine was bad but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/the-priest-was-good-but-dull-the-officers-were-not-good-but-dull-the/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“Did I know him? Did I love him? You ask me that? I knew him like you know nobody in the world, and I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/did-i-know-him-did-i-love-him-you-ask-me-that-i-knew-him-like-you/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“The Purdey was not a Purdey but a straight-stocked long-barreled Scott live-pigeon full choke in both barrels thai I had bought from a lot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/the-purdey-was-not-a-purdey-but-a-straight-stocked-long-barreled/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“All right, said Nick. Let's get drunk. All right, Bill said. Let's get really drunk.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/all-right-said-nick-let-s-get-drunk-all-right-bill-said-let-s-get/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) ## More by Ernest Hemingway > [Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the most natural things of the world that has been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/wine-is-one-of-the-most-civilized-things-in-the-world-and-one-of-the/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“There was no wind, and, outside now of the warm air of the cave, heavy with smoke of both tobacco and charcoal, with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/there-was-no-wind-and-outside-now-of-the-warm-air-of-the-cave-heavy/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“It was not brilliant bull-fighting. It was only perfect bull-fighting.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/it-was-not-brilliant-bull-fighting-it-was-only-perfect-bull-fighting/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [One cat just leads to another. The place is so damned big it doesn't really seem as though there were many cats until you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/one-cat-just-leads-to-another-the-place-is-so-damned-big-it-doesn-t/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [Creation's probably overrated. After all, God made the world in only six days and rested on the seventh.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/creation-s-probably-overrated-after-all-god-made-the-world-in-only/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“Viva my husband who was Mayor of this town”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/viva-my-husband-who-was-mayor-of-this-town/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“The earth gets tired of being exploited.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/the-earth-gets-tired-of-being-exploited/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [What is moral is what you feel good after, and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/what-is-moral-is-what-you-feel-good-after-and-what-is-immoral-is-what/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“We drove out along the coast road. There was the green of the headlands, the white, red-roofed villas, patches of forest, and the ocean…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/we-drove-out-along-the-coast-road-there-was-the-green-of-the/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [As a Nobel Prize winner I cannot but regret that the award was never given to Mark Twain, nor to Henry James, speaking only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/as-a-nobel-prize-winner-i-cannot-but-regret-that-the-award-was-never/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [Oh, darling, I've been so miserable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/oh-darling-i-ve-been-so-miserable/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [I read my own books sometimes to cheer me when it is hard to write, and then I remember that it was always difficult,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/i-read-my-own-books-sometimes-to-cheer-me-when-it-is-hard-to-write/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“You find everything on earth at Harry's." "Yes, my Colonel. Except, possibly, happiness." "I'll damn well find happiness, too," the Colonel assured him. "Happiness,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/you-find-everything-on-earth-at-harry-s-yes-my-colonel-except/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“No. It's bad for me. Cole Porter wrote the words and the music. This knowledge that you're going mad for me.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/no-it-s-bad-for-me-cole-porter-wrote-the-words-and-the-music-this/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“everything kills everything else in some way. Fishing kills me exactly as it keeps me alive. The boy keeps me alive, he thought. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/everything-kills-everything-else-in-some-way-fishing-kills-me-exactly/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) [Explore all 1,464 Ernest Hemingway quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) ## More Dostoevsky quotes > [ “\[Dostoyevsky\] eloquently proves that heartless ideas are often a source of immorality: they bring with them destructiveness, hatred, cynicism, and misanthropy. The novelist also… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-l-kline/dostoyevsky-eloquently-proves-that-heartless-ideas-are-often-a-source/) [George L. Kline](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-l-kline/) > [“He main retain his human dignity even in a concentration camp. Dostoevsky said once, 'There is only one thing that I dread: not to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/viktor-e-frankl/he-main-retain-his-human-dignity-even-in-a-concentration-camp/) [Viktor E. Frankl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/viktor-e-frankl/) > [“So against the grain I serve to produce events and do what’s irrational because I am commanded to. For all their indisputable intelligence, men…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fyodor-dostoevsky/so-against-the-grain-i-serve-to-produce-events-and-do-what-s/) [Fyodor Dostoevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fyodor-dostoevsky/) > [“Then it happened. One night as the rain beat on the slanted kitchen roof a great spirit slipped forever into my life. I held…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fante/then-it-happened-one-night-as-the-rain-beat-on-the-slanted-kitchen/) [John Fante](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fante/) > [“A drunken but exceedingly depressed German clown from Munich entertained the public.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fyodor-dostoyevsky/a-drunken-but-exceedingly-depressed-german-clown-from-munich/) [Fyodor Dostoyevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fyodor-dostoyevsky/) > [“It was not surprising that after the war Dostoevsky was linked to Kierkegaard as a prophet of social resignation.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-jay/it-was-not-surprising-that-after-the-war-dostoevsky-was-linked-to/) [Martin Jay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-jay/) > ['The Gambler' by Dostoevsky. It was the first time I realised that it was possible to have good and evil in one person. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sue-townsend/the-gambler-by-dostoevsky-it-was-the-first-time-i-realised-that-it/) [Sue Townsend](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sue-townsend/) > [Dostoevsky's underground man ... observes his contemporaries striving to establish false goals where there are no naturally generated ones. ... He argues they should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-carroll/dostoevsky-s-underground-man-observes-his-contemporaries-striving-to/) [John Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-carroll/) > [Back when George W. Bush was identifying his Axis of Evil, it struck me that a longer and more instructive list could be compiled…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/serge-schmemann/back-when-george-w-bush-was-identifying-his-axis-of-evil-it-struck-me/) [Serge Schmemann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/serge-schmemann/) > [Dostoevsky preaches the morality of the pariah, the morality of the slave.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-brandes/dostoevsky-preaches-the-morality-of-the-pariah-the-morality-of-the/) [Georg Brandes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-brandes/) > [“That distinctive singular stamp of himself is one of the main reasons readers come to love an author. The way you can just tell,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/that-distinctive-singular-stamp-of-himself-is-one-of-the-main-reasons/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [“Enjoyment is more subjective than evaluation. Whether you prefer peaches to pears is a question of taste, which is not quite true of whether…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/enjoyment-is-more-subjective-than-evaluation-whether-you-prefer/) [Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/) > [ “Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (November 11 \[O.S. October 30\] 1821 – February 9 \[O.S. January 28\] 1881) is considered one of two greatest prose writers… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fyodor-dostoevsky/fyodor-mikhailovich-dostoevsky-november-11-o-s-october-30-1821/) [Fyodor Dostoevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fyodor-dostoevsky/) > [“His unrivaled genius as an ideological novelist was this capacity to invent actions and situations in which ideas dominate behavior without the latter becoming…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-frank/his-unrivaled-genius-as-an-ideological-novelist-was-this-capacity-to/) [Joseph Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-frank/) > [The other side of my work is political disappointment - the realization that we are living in an unjust world. "Blood is being spilled…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-critchley/the-other-side-of-my-work-is-political-disappointment-the-realization/) [Simon Critchley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-critchley/) [Browse all 98 Dostoevsky quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dostoevsky/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“In Dostoevsky there were things unbelievable and not to be believed, but some so true they changed you as you read them; frailty and madness, wickedness and saintliness, and the insanity of gambling were there to know as you knew the landscape and the roads in turgenev”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ernest Hemingway" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/in-dostoevsky-there-were-things-unbelievable-and-not-to-be-believed/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Dostoevsky" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/in-dostoevsky-there-were-things-unbelievable-and-not-to-be-believed/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/981/ernest-hemingway-83_dostoevsky_in-dostoevsky-there-were-things-unbeliev_1393450.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/981/ernest-hemingway-83_dostoevsky_in-dostoevsky-there-were-things-unbeliev_1393450.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/981/ernest-hemingway-83_dostoevsky_in-dostoevsky-there-were-things-unbeliev_1393450.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“In Dostoevsky there were things unbelievable and not to be believed, but some so true they changed you as…” — Ernest Hemingway", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Ernest Hemingway", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“In Dostoevsky there were things unbelievable...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/in-dostoevsky-there-were-things-unbelievable-and-not-to-be-believed/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/in-dostoevsky-there-were-things-unbelievable-and-not-to-be-believed/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```