Active love is always directed at somebody or something in particular. Abstract love of humanity is professed by Ivan Karamazov’s Grand Inquisitor, by Rakitin, and eventually by Ivan Karamazov’s devil. When it comes to meeting a particular individual, Ivan, Rakitin, Katerina, Khokhlakov, and all the others who proclaim themselves to be humanists show themselves incapable of selfless love.
–Victor Terras, A Karamazov Companion:Commentary on the Genesis, Language, and Style of Dostoevsky’s Novel
He who would do good to another must do it in Minute Particulars.
General Good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocrite, and flatterer…
–William Blake, Jerusalem
