‘Your worst sin is that you've destroyed and betrayed yourself for nothing’: 20 Bleak Dostoevsky Memes To Keep Up The Good Vibes

Olivia Arocena • Writer and Editor

Sep 3, 2026 11:30 AM EDT

Is there a better way to start the day than reading some good old Russian literature?

I remember reading Crime and Punishment when I worked as a secretary in an accountant's office. There was definitely something masochistic about choosing that book, but the overall bleakness of my job complemented the book's atmosphere perfectly, and it ended up filling the long, empty hours behind my desk with complex, tortured characters and narratives.

In my mind, the book was sort of funny. I mean, I empathised with the main character's suffering, but at the same time, every time I opened the book, I was like: What terrible decision is he going to make now? And going about it like that brought some humour into the otherwise terrible and cold circumstances. So yes, very counterintuitively, reading Dostoevsky made me happy.

Rumor has it that Nabokov hated his literature; he dismissed him as melodramatic and unconvincing. He said he was dependent on clichés to make his stories work and that his characters were not deep, but more like 'cardboard caricatures', neurotic 'bundles of eccentricity' trapped in unrealistic, excessively melodramatic situations. But hey, aren't we allowed to enjoy a sentimental cliché from time to time?

To me, reading authors like Dostoevsky is about travelling through time, imagining different scenarios and ways of living, and reflecting on an otherwise dated morality.

Especially in books like Crime and Punishment, one gets sort of disillusioned when, in the end, everything leads to this weird moral lesson, failing to create the fully perverted character we want to see.

Either way, we can't help but love his tortured soul, so here are the most desolate memes for us Dostoevsky lovers to rejoice in our agony!

01
This meme speaks to my tortured literary Dostoevsky loving soul

via jessedraham
02
If god does not exist who is laughing at us ~Dostoevsky

via dostoevskyordoesntshe
03
E tu, come ti senti oggi?

via ilmaestroemargherita_
04
I have romanticised pain till it became part of me now happiness is my favorite illusion

via coffeewithliteraturee
05
“Dostoevsky readers be like: ‘I swear I’m fine,’ two pages before calling their own life a pointless betrayal.”

via dostoevsky_lines
06
Facts

via ottovonspinmarck
07
follow page for literature, philosophy content.

via kafka_autism
08
My dear Raskolnikov

via thebrothersraskolnikov
09
Level 2

via dostoevskywisdom
10
Fr.

via thecrudepoet
11
The painful contrast between dreams and reality

via 1existential.archive
12
It's going great!

via bibliophildotcom
13
"Read for depth. Prepare for existential damage."

via dostoevsky_lines
14
😂😂 that’s me

via coffeewithliteraturee
15
Hmm no

via dostoevsky_lines
16
Assuming therapy fixes anything

via thebrothersraskolnikov
17
Yup

via dostoevskyordoesntshe
18
“Somewhere between Dostoevsky‑level suffering and Kafka‑level overthinking, that’s where the personality sits.”

via dostoevsky_lines
19
I believe in eastern europe art supremacy

via shades_of_doom
20
Stop quoting dostoevsky and explain yourself

via poetrynyx