Men reject their prophets and slay them, but they love their martyrs and honor those whom they have slain.

The saying captures a recurring social pattern: living truth-tellers (“prophets”) are resisted because they demand change, expose hypocrisy, or threaten established comfort and power. Once such figures are silenced—sometimes literally killed—society can safely sentimentalize them as “martyrs,” praising their courage without having to obey their message. Dostoyevsky often explored this paradox of moral recognition arriving too late, when it no longer costs anything. The line also implies collective guilt: honoring the dead can function as a way to launder responsibility for having rejected them in life, turning a disruptive voice into a harmless symbol.