It is better to be unhappy and know the worst, than to be happy in a fool's paradise!
 Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Idiot (1874). copy citation

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Author Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Source The Idiot
Topic foolishness happiness
Date 1874
Language English
Reference
Note Translated by Eva Martin
Weblink http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2638/2638-h/2638-h.htm

Context

“it's your nature—you can't help it!»
«My word! what a thing to be melancholy about! Why, do you think I should be any happier if I were to feel disturbed about the excavations you tell me of?»
«It is better to be unhappy and know the worst, than to be happy in a fool's paradise! I suppose you don't believe that you have a rival in that quarter?»
«Your insinuations as to rivalry are rather cynical, Hippolyte. I'm sorry to say I have no right to answer you! As for Gania, I put it to you, can any man have a happy mind after passing through what he has had to suffer?” source

Meaning and analysis

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