I could have done even better, miss, and I'd know a lot more, if it wasn't for my destiny ever since childhood. I'd have killed a man in a duel with a pistol for calling me low-born, because I came from Stinking Lizaveta without a father, and they were shoving that in my face in Moscow. It spread there thanks to Grigory Vasilievich. Grigory Vasilievich reproaches me for rebelling against my nativity: 'You opened her matrix, ' he says. I don't know about her matrix, but I'd have let them kill me in the womb, so as not to come out into the world at all, miss. Fyodor Dostoyevsky
About This Quote

This quote is from the novel Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. It offers a glimpse into the mind of a man who has never been truly happy in life. "I could have done even better, miss," says Vronsky in his response to Anna's assessment of his life in the novel. "If it wasn't for my destiny," he goes on to explain, "I'd have killed a man in a duel with a pistol for calling me low-born." In this quote, we see that despite all that he has accomplished in life, Vronsky is still obsessing over his origins and his status in society.

In fact, he refuses to take credit for anything he has accomplished because he has convinced himself that it was all due to destiny or fate. The same goes for Anna Karenina herself. Her husband, Count Vronsky, is obsessed with her origins and what people think of her because she came from a poor family and was not born to a noble lineage.

His obsession with her origins is why she cheats on him with Lewdov and then commits suicide when her husband rejects her.

Source: The Brothers Karamazov

Some Similar Quotes
  1. I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best. - Marilyn Monroe
  2. You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching, Love like you'll never be hurt, Sing like there's nobody listening, And live like it's heaven on earth. - William W. Purkey
  3. This life is what you make it. No matter what, you're going to mess up sometimes, it's a universal truth. But the good part is you get to decide how you're going to mess it up. Girls will be your friends - they'll act like... - Marilyn Monroe
  4. When someone loves you, the way they talk about you is different. You feel safe and comfortable. - Jess C. Scott
  5. Dumbledore watched her fly away, and as her silvery glow faded he turned back to Snape, and his eyes were full of tears." After all this time?"" Always, " said Snape. - J.k. Rowling
More Quotes By Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  1. Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having...
  2. What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love.
  3. The soul is healed by being with children.
  4. I love mankind, he said, "but I find to my amazement that the more I love mankind as a whole, the less I love man in particular.
  5. To love someone means to see them as God intended them.
Related Topics