âNo, you wonât run away. A peasant would run away, a fashionable dissenter would run away, the flunkey of another manâs thought, for youâve only to show him the end of your little finger and heâll be ready to believe in anything for the rest of his life. But youâve ceased to believe in your theory already, what will you run away with? And what would you do in hiding? It would be hateful and difficult for you, and what you need more than anything in life is a definite position, an atmosphere to suit you. And what sort of atmosphere would you have? If you ran away, youâd come back of yourself. You canât get on without us. And if I put you in prisonâ âsay youâve been there a month, or two, or threeâ âremember my word, youâll confess of yourself and perhaps to your own surprise. You wonât know an hour beforehand that you are coming with a confession. I am convinced that you will decide, âto take your suffering.â You donât believe my words now, but youâll come to it of yourself. For suffering, Rodion Romanovitch, is a great thing. Never mind my having grown fat, I know all the same. Donât laugh at it, thereâs an idea in suffering, Nikolay is right. No, you wonât run away, Rodion Romanovitch.â
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