The Idiot Hypocrisy Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #7

[S]aid the prince, trembling a little, and in great agitation. "You say Gavrila Ardalionovitch has private communications with Aglaya?—Impossible!"

"Only quite lately. His sister has been gnawing like a rat to clear the way for him all the winter." 

"I don't believe it!" said the prince abruptly, after a short pause. "Had it been so I should have known long ago."

"Oh, of course, yes; he would have come and wept out his secret on your bosom. Oh, you simpleton—you simpleton! Anyone can deceive you and take you in like a—like a,—aren't you ashamed to trust him? Can't you see that he humbugs you just as much as ever he pleases?" 

"I know very well that he does deceive me occasionally, and he knows that I know it, but—" The prince did not finish his sentence.

"And that's why you trust him, eh?" (2.12-58-66)

So, Myshkin trusts Ganya specifically because every now and again Ganya lies to him? It's kind of a better-the-devil-you-know-than-the-one-you-don't type of situation.

Quote #8

"Don't lose your temper. You are just like a schoolboy. You think that all this sort of thing would harm you in Aglaya's eyes, do you? You little know her character. She is capable of refusing the most brilliant party, and running away and starving in a garret with some wretched student; that's the sort of girl she is. You never could or did understand how interesting you would have seen in her eyes if you had come firmly and proudly through our misfortunes. The prince has simply caught her with hook and line; firstly, because he never thought of fishing for her, and secondly, because he is an idiot in the eyes of most people. It's quite enough for her that by accepting him she puts her family out and annoys them all round—that's what she likes. You don't understand these things. […] If you HAVE a hope left, it is that your suffering air may soften her heart towards you."

"Oh, even she would turn coward in the face of a scandal, despite all her love of novels. Everything up to a certain limit, and everybody up to a certain limit–—you are all the same!" 

"What! Aglaya would have turn coward? You really have a mean little soul, Ganya!" said Varya, looking at her brother with contempt. "Not one of us is worth much. Aglaya may be funny and eccentric, but she is far nobler than any of us, a thousand times nobler!" (4.1.69-73)

Check out how Ganya is only ever capable of judging people based on his own feelings. He might well be the least empathetic character in the novel (since, you know, empathy is the ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes to try to imagine how another person feels). We love that Varya, who has been working her magic on his behalf for months is so exasperated with him and his idiocy here. If only she'd use her powers for good and not evil.

Quote #9

How or why it came about that everyone at the Epanchins' became imbued with one conviction—that something very important had happened to Aglaya, and that her fate was in process of settlement—it would be very difficult to explain. But no sooner had this idea taken root, than all at once declared that they had seen and observed it long ago; that they had remarked it at the time of the "poor knight" joke, and even before, though they had been unwilling to believe in such nonsense.

So said the sisters. Of course, Lizabeta Prokofievna had foreseen it long before the rest; her "heart had been sore" for a long while, she declared, and it was now so sore that she appeared to be quite overwhelmed, and the very thought of the prince became distasteful to her. (4.5.3-4)

Okay, so granted, this desire to take credit for being clairvoyant here is a pretty mild hypocrisy, but it's still interesting how Aglaya's family is fixated on knowing everything about her. You don't see anyone making claims to have predicted anything about Adelaida and Prince Sh., right?