this conversation from The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky hits deeply. love isn't measured by how deeply we feel, but by how consistently we act with compassion. it's easy to love an idea of someone, yet humans are complex. love is tested when closeness reveal complexity.
Reading literature means realizing that Raskolnikov from Crime and Punishment, the guy who murdered two women for no good reason, is more mentally well than every single character in Wuthering Heights.
When someone says “I love you” but Dostoevsky said:
“I dreamed of you before I ever met you, and when I finally did, it was as if I had known you all my life”
“I gave them every version of myself
hoping one would be enough.”
— Fyodor Dostoevsky
“But people only love the version
they don’t have to fix.”
— Franz Kafka
“The more you understand this world, the more you destroy yourself. That's why fools are happy, and intelligent people live in loneliness.”
- Fyodor Dostoevsky