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Leo Tolstoy Quotes
1828–1910 Russia
Lev Nikolayevitch Tolstoy [Ле́в Никола́евич Толсто́й, usually rendered Leo Tolstoy, or sometimes Tolstoi] (9 September 1828 – 20 November 1910) was a Russian writer, philosopher and social activist (social critic), whose novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina are internationally praised classics of world literature. He was a major influence on the development of Christian anarchism and pacifism, contributing to such nonviolent resistance movements as those of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and James Bevel.
Russia Academics Anarchists Aristocrats Educators Also known as: Leo Tolstoi, Leo, Count Tolstoy, Lev Nikolayevitch Tolstoy, Lev Tolstoy, Tolstoy, Tolstoy, Leo
Random Leo Tolstoy quote
215 quotes
The appreciation of the merits of art (of the emotions it conveys) depends upon an understanding of the meaning of life, what is seen as good and evil. Good and evil are defined by religions.
What is Art? (1897)
“Nothing but ambition, nothing but the desire to get on, that's all there is in his soul,” she thought; “as for these lofty ideals, love of culture, religion, they are only so many tools for getting on.”
I cannot understand how some people can live without communicating with the wisest people who ever lived on earth.
Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it.
One can insult an honest man or an honest woman, but to tell a thief that he is a thief is merely la constation d'un fait [The establishing of a fact.]
Anna Karenina (1875)
When the woman showed her love for the children that were not her own, and wept over them, I saw in her the living God, and understood What men live by.
What Men Live By (1881)
Six feet of land was all that he needed.
How Much Land Does a Man Need? (1886)
Money is a new form of slavery, and distinguishable from the old simply by the fact that it is impersonal — that there is no human relation between master and slave.
What shall We Do Then? (1886)
Go — take the mother's soul, and learn three truths: Learn What dwells in man, What is not given to man, and What men live by. When thou hast learnt these things, thou shalt return to heaven.
What Men Live By (1881)
Young, kind, undepraved people ... feel that virtue is incompatible with beefsteaks, and, as soon as they wish to be good, give up eating flesh.
Whereas at present, every man, even, if free, asks himself, "What can I do alone against all this ocean of evil and deceit which overwhelms us? Why should I express my opinion? Why indeed possess one?
Patriotism and Christianity (1896)
Patience and time are my warriors, my champions,” thought Kutúzov. He knew that an apple should not be plucked while it is green. It will fall of itself when ripe, but if picked unripe the apple is spoiled, the tree is harmed, and your teeth are set on edge.
War and Peace (1865)
As soon as the higher ideal is put before us, all false ideals will fade away as the stars fade away when they meet the sun.
In order to feel complete love, we can either delude ourselves that some imperfect object of our love is “perfection” or we can love perfection, which is God.
Quite often a man goes on for years imagining that the religious teaching that had been imparted to him since childhood is still intact, while all the time there is not a trace of it left in him.
Confession (1882)
A real work of art destroys, in the consciousness of the receiver, the separation between himself and the artist.
What is Art? (1897)
Now about your family. Do you know that since your daughter came out everyone has been enraptured by her? They say she is amazingly beautiful.
War and Peace (1865)
And the angel's body was bared, and he was clothed in light so that eye could not look on him; and his voice grew louder, as though it came not from him but from heaven above.
What Men Live By (1881)
He did not, and could not, understand the meaning of words apart from their context. Every word and action of his was the manifestation of an activity unknown to him, which was his life.
War and Peace (1865)
Woman is more impressionable than man. Therefore in the Golden Age they were better than men. Now they are worse.
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