Leo Tolstoy Quotes

A collection of quotes by Leo Tolstoy.

Leo Tolstoy was a renowned Russian writer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest authors in literary history. Born on September 9, 1828, in Yasnaya Polyana, Russia, he came from an aristocratic family. After experiencing a turbulent early adulthood marked by gambling and debauchery, Tolstoy underwent a spiritual and philosophical transformation.

His transformation led him to embrace realism and develop a unique writing style. Tolstoy's notable works include the epic novels "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina." "War and Peace" explores the impact of Napoleon's invasion of Russia on various characters and families, while "Anna Karenina" delves into the complexities of love, relationships, and social norms in 19th-century Russia.

Tolstoy's writing tackled profound themes such as love, death, faith, and morality. His works often portrayed the struggles of individuals against society's constraints, highlighting the clash between personal desires and societal expectations. Tolstoy's exploration of the human condition made his novels highly influential and beloved by readers worldwide.

In addition to his literary pursuits, Tolstoy was an outspoken critic of social injustice and inequality. He advocated for nonviolent resistance and rejected materialism and wealth. Tolstoy's quest for a simpler, more meaningful life led him to embrace pacifism, vegetarianism, and a humble existence.

Leo Tolstoy passed away on November 20, 1910, leaving behind a rich literary legacy that continues to inspire and captivate readers to this day.

In the world today, real faith has in most case been re-plac

In the world today, real faith has in most case been re-placed by public opinion.

Faith Thepublic

Anything is better than lies and deceit!

Anything is better than lies and deceit!

Honesty Lying Lies Deceit

How strange it was to think that he, who such a short time a

How strange it was to think that he, who such a short time ago dared not believe in the happiness of her loving him, now felt unhappy because she loved him too much!

Love Irony Levin

We are all brothers, and yet I live by receiving a salary fo

We are all brothers, and yet I live by receiving a salary for arraigning, judging and punishing a thief or a prostitute, whose existence is conditioned by the whole consumption of my life.

For us, with the rule of right and wrong given us by Christ,

For us, with the rule of right and wrong given us by Christ, there is nothing for which we have no standard. And there is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth.

Truth Rights Simplicity Rules Greatness Wrongs

When you love someone, you love the person as they are, and

When you love someone, you love the person as they are, and not as you'd like them to be.

If everyone fought only for his own convictions, there would

If everyone fought only for his own convictions, there would be no wars.

War Peace Tolstoy Leo

Art is a human activity consisting in this, that one conscio

Art is a human activity consisting in this, that one consciously, by means of certain external symbols, conveys to others the feelings one has experienced, whereby people so infected by these feelings, also experience them.

Experience Art People Symbols

Having learnt from experiment and argument that a stone fall

Having learnt from experiment and argument that a stone falls downwards, a man indubitably believes this, and always expects the law he has learnt to be fulfilled.But learning just as certainly that his will is subject to laws, he does not and cannot believe it.However often experiment and reasoning may show a man that under the same conditions and with the same character he will do the same thing as before, yet when, under the same conditions and with the same character, he approaches for the thousandth time the action that always ends in the same way, he feels as certainly convinced as before the experiment that he can act as he pleases. Every man, savage or sage, however incontestably reason and experiment may prove to him that it is impossible to imagine two different courses of action in precisely the same conditions, feels that without this irrational conception (which constitutes the essence of freedom) he cannot imagine life. He feels that, however impossible it may be, it is so, for without this conceptions of freedom not only would he be unable to understand life, but he would be unable to live for a single moment.He could not live, because all man's efforts, all his impulses to life, are only efforts to increase freedom. Wealth and poverty, fame and obscurity, power and subordination, strength and weakness, health and disease, culture and ignorance, work and leisure, repletion and hunger, virtue and vice, are only greater or lesser degrees of freedom.A man having no freedom cannot be conceived of except as deprived of life.If the conception of freedom appears to reason a senseless contradiction, like the possibility of performing two actions at one and the same instant of time, or of an effect without a cause, that only proves that consciousness is not subject to reason.

Reason Free Will

There are such repulsive faces in the world.

There are such repulsive faces in the world.

Humanity Mankind

As a house can be only be built satisfactorily and durably w

As a house can be only be built satisfactorily and durably when there is a foundation, and a picture can be painted only when there is something prepared to paint it on, so carnal love is only legitimate, reasonable, and lasting when it is based on the respect and love of one human being for another.

Love Marriage Sex Christianity Christian Living Christian Marriage

I hope the readers of this book may experience the same bene

I hope the readers of this book may experience the same benevolent and elevating feeling which I have experienced when I was working on its creation, and which I experience again and again, when I reread it every day, working on the enlargement and improvement of the previous edition.

Armies are necessary, before all things, for the defense of

Armies are necessary, before all things, for the defense of governments from their own oppressed and enslaved subjects.

A king asked a holy man, Do you remember about me? The holy

A king asked a holy man, Do you remember about me? The holy man answered, Yes, I think about you when I forget about God.

Science fulfills its purpose, not when it explains the reaso

Science fulfills its purpose, not when it explains the reasons for the dark spots on the sun, but when it understands and explains the laws of our own life, and the consequences of violating these laws.

Life Science Purpose

At moments of departure and a change of life, people capable

At moments of departure and a change of life, people capable of reflecting on their actions usually get into a serious state of mind. At these moments they usually take stock of the past and make plans for the future.

Kindlehighlight

If you suffer misfortunes in your life, look for their cause

If you suffer misfortunes in your life, look for their cause, not in your actions, but in the thoughts which inspired them, and try to improve these thoughts.

Life Action Misfortune

He had learned that, as there is no situation in the world i

He had learned that, as there is no situation in the world in which a man can be happy and perfectly free, so there is no situation in which he can be perfectly unhappy and unfree.

Freedom Happiness

Our life would become wonderful if we could see all the disg

Our life would become wonderful if we could see all the disgusting things which exist in it.

Sitting in his old schoolroom on the sofa with little cushio

Sitting in his old schoolroom on the sofa with little cushions on the arms and looking into Natasha's wildly eager eyes, Rostov was carried back into that world of home and childhood which had no meaning for anyone else, but gave him some of the greatest pleasure in his life.

Memory Childhood