Above all, avoid falsehood, every kind of falsehood, especially falseness to yourself. Watch over your own deceitfulness and look into it every hour, every minute." - Meaning and context.">
Book II, ch. 4 (trans. Constance Garnett)
• The Elder Zossima, speaking to Mrs. Khoklakov
“

Above all, avoid falsehood, every kind of falsehood, especially falseness to yourself. Watch over your own deceitfulness and look into it every hour, every minute.

— Fyodor Dostoyevsky

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Above all, avoid falsehood, every kind of falsehood, especially falseness to yourself. Watch over your own deceitfulness and look into it every hour, every minute." in the context of "Book II, ch. 4 (trans. Constance Garnett)
• The Elder Zossima, speaking to Mrs. Khoklakov" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Fyodor Dostoyevsky" (General, The Brothers Karamazov (1879–1880): Original Russian text wikisource:ru:Братья Карамазовы (Достоевский), English translation wikisource:The Brothers Karamazov translated by Constance Garnett.) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Fyodor Dostoyevsky

About Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky or Dostoevsky Фёдор Миха́йлович Достое́вский (11 November 1821 - 9 February 1881) was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist, and journalist. Dostoevsky's literary works explore the human condition in the troubled political, social, and spiritual atmospheres of 19th-century Russia, and engage with a variety of philosophical and religious themes. Many literary critics rate him as one of the greatest novelists in all of world literature, as multiple of his works are considered highly influential masterpieces.