Source identified
Read & copy the quotation
“To be too conscious is an illness—a real thorough-going illness.”
- Source
- Notes from Underground
- Date
- 1864
- Local voice
- Fictional narrator · Underground Man
- English wording
- Constance Garnett — Translator · from Russian
Meaning of “To be too conscious is an illness—a real…”
The Underground Man treats excessive self-consciousness as paralyzing because reflection can multiply doubt until decisive action becomes difficult.
Where does it come from?
Notes from Underground, Part I, Chapter II, Constance Garnett translation. The Underground Man calls excessive consciousness “an illness—a real thorough-going illness.” Verified against Project Gutenberg #600 and the 1918 Heinemann White Nights and Other Stories Wikisource text; this is fictional first-person polemic, not a clinical diagnosis.
Why the local voice matters
Dostoevsky explicitly frames the diary author as imaginary; this is the Underground Man’s first-person voice.
