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# Leo Tolstoy on the death of Fyodor Dostoevsky, whom he never saw
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/kak-by-ia-zhelal-umet-skazat-vse-chto-ia-chuvstvuiu-o-dostoevskom/
- Published: 2025-07-17T11:05:01.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T18:49:05.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Archive, Books, People

> How I wish I could say all that I feel about Dostoevsky. I never saw the man and never had any direct dealings with him; and suddenly, when he died, I understood that he was the closest, dearest, most necessary person to me. And it never once entered my head to measure myself against him, never. Everything he did (the good, the genuine that he did) was such that the more he accomplished, the better it was for me. Art arouses envy in me, intellect the same, but a work of the heart brings only joy. I considered him my friend, and thought of it no other way than that we should meet, and that it simply had not yet come to pass, but that he was mine. And suddenly I read: he is dead. Some prop seemed to be knocked from under me. I was bewildered, and then it became clear how dear he had been to me, and I wept and am weeping now. A few days ago, before his death, I read "The Insulted and Injured" and was moved to tenderness

Leo Tolstoy on Fyodor Dostoevsky

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_17268@17-07-2025_14-05-01.jpg)