Taking Pleasure in Offense

“The man who lies to himself can be more easily offended than anyone else. You know it is sometimes very pleasant to take offense, isn't it? A man may know that nobody has insulted him, but that he has invented the insult for himself, has lied and exaggerated to make it picturesque, has caught at a word and made a mountain out of a molehill. He knows that himself, yet he will be the first to take offense, and will revel in his resentment till he feels great pleasure in it.”
-Fyodor Dostoevsky

You may read this and think “Wow, I know someone just like that.” or “This describes whole swaths of people, movements, ideologies, political parties, belief systems etc.” And you would be preaching to the choir. You may even go as far to say that this observation has never been more obvious than it is today.

What makes this quote remarkable is it is almost 150 years old.

And that’s why some books and authors are considered timeless classics.

From the book The Brothers Karamazov.