beauty will save the world

dostoevsky, the idiot. beauty will save the world.

it’s on tote bags now.

people forget who says it. it’s myshkin.
the idiot. the title is about him.
he is the kindest man in the book
and he is destroyed by the end of it,
and everyone he tried to save is dead or ruined.

so either dostoevsky wrote the line as a joke,
or he meant it and put it in the mouth of a man
the world would break for believing it.

i think it’s the second one.
i think that’s the most honest thing anyone has said about beauty:
that it might be true
and it still won’t protect you.