“ Most of us are so bounteously endowed with intellect as to require also a spice of genius to choose the right form of behaviour. And genius is lacking in us for the reason that so little genius at all exists. ”
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Gambler (1866). copy citation
| Author | Fyodor Dostoyevsky |
|---|---|
| Source | The Gambler |
| Topic | genius reason |
| Date | 1866 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by C. J. Hogarth |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2197/2197-h/2197-h.htm |
Context
“By that I mean that, though I am a man of self-respect, I am unable to carry off a situation properly. Do you know the reason? It is because we Russians are too richly and multifariously gifted to be able at once to find the proper mode of expression. It is all a question of mode. Most of us are so bounteously endowed with intellect as to require also a spice of genius to choose the right form of behaviour. And genius is lacking in us for the reason that so little genius at all exists. It belongs only to the French—though a few other Europeans have elaborated their forms so well as to be able to figure with extreme dignity, and yet be wholly undignified persons. That is why, with us, the mode is so all-important.”
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