Famous Quotes by Leo Tolstoy |Short Quotes by Leo Tolstoy| Famous Peoples English Quotes
- Sometimes she did not know what she feared, what she desired: whether she feared or desired what had been or what would be, and precisely what she desired, she did not know.
- The soul is immortal- well then, if I shall always live, I must have lived before, lived for a whole eternity.
- 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.
- Time is an illusion in life; the life of the past and the future clouds men from the true life of the present.
- Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold.
- The hero of my tale, whom I love with all the power of my soul, whom I have tried to portray in all his beauty, who has been, is, and will be beautiful, is Truth.
- We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom.
- True human life does not take place in time but always “is” at the “timeless” point where the past becomes the future – a point which we incorrectly label the present. This is a timeless point, and people are free only at this point.
- He who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted. (Matthew 23:12) The person who exalts himself … will be humbled, because a person who considers himself to be good, intelligent, and kind will not even try to become better, smarter, or kinder. The humble person will be exalted because he considers himself bad and will try to become better, kinder, and more reasonable.
- No longer able to believe in the Church religion, whose falsehood they had detected, and incapable of accepting true Christian teaching, which denounced their whole manner of life, these rich and powerful people, stranded without any religious conception of life, involuntarily returned to that pagan view of things which places life’s meaning in personal enjoyment. And then among the upper classes what is called the “Renaissance of science and art” took place, which was really not only a denial of every religion but also an assertion that religion was unnecessary.
- Do not resist the evil-doer and take no part in doing so, either in the violent deeds of the administration, in the law courts, the collection of taxes, or above all in soldiering, and no one in the world will be able to enslave you.
- If a man, before he passed from one stage to another, could know his future life in full detail, he would have nothing to live for. It is the same with the life of humanity. If it had a program of the life that awaited it before entering a new stage, it would be the surest sign that it was not living, nor advancing, but simply rotating in the same place.
- One thing only is needful: the knowledge of the simple and clear truth which finds a place in every soul that is not stupefied by religious and scientific superstitions — the truth that for our life one law is valid — the law of love, which brings the highest happiness to every individual as well as to all mankind.
- To say that the activity of science and art helps humanity’s progress, if by that activity we mean the activity which now calls itself by those names, is as though one said that the clumsy, obstructive splashing of oars in a boat moving downstream assists the boat’s progress. It only hinders it… The proof of this is seen in the confession made by men of science that the achievements of the arts and sciences are inaccessible to the labouring masses on account of the unequal distribution of wealth.
- I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence. I wanted excitement and danger and the chance to sacrifice myself for my love.
- The role of the disappointed lover of a maiden or of any single woman might be ridiculous; but the role of a man who was pursuing a married woman, and who made it the purpose of his life at all cost to draw her into adultery, was one which had in it something beautiful and dignified and could never be ridiculous.
- There are people who, on meeting a successful rival, no matter in what, are at once disposed to turn their backs on everything good in him, and to see only what is bad. There are people, on the other hand, who desire above all to find in that lucky rival the qualities by which he has outstripped them, and seek with a throbbing ache at heart only what is good.
- Real wisdom is not the knowledge of everything, but the knowledge of which things in life are necessary, which are less necessary, and which are completely unnecessary to know.
- Science and art are as closely bound together as the lungs and heart, so that if one organ is vitiated the other cannot act rightly.
- Perfection is impossible without humility. Why should I strive for perfection, if I am already good enough?
- When an individual passes from one period of life to another a time comes when he cannot go on in senseless activity and excitement as before, but has to understand that although he has out-grown what before used to direct him, this does not mean that he must live without any reasonable guidance, but rather that he must formulate for himself an understanding of life corresponding to his age, and having elucidated it must be guided by it. And in the same way, a similar time must come in the growth and development of humanity.
- And you know, there’s less charm in life when you think about death — but it’s more peaceful.
- These joys were so trifling as to be as imperceptible as grains of gold among the sand, and in moments of depression she saw nothing but the sand; yet there were brighter moments when she felt nothing but joy, saw nothing but the gold.
- The vocation of every man and woman is to serve other people.
- A man’s every action is inevitably conditioned by what surrounds him and by his own body.
- When you understand that you will die tomorrow, if not today, and nothing will be left, then everything is so unimportant!… So one goes on living, amusing oneself with hunting, with work – anything so as not thinks of death
- It’s all God’s will: you can die in your sleep, and God can spare you in battle.
- In the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, and look around you.
- War is not a courtesy but the most horrible thing in life, and we ought to understand that, and not play at war. We ought to accept this terrible necessity sternly and seriously. It all lies in that: get rid of falsehood and let war be war and not a game. As it is now, war is the favorite pastime of the idle and frivolous.
- In all history, there is no war that was not hatched by the governments, the governments alone, independent of the interests of the people, to whom war is always pernicious even when successful.
- History is the life of nations and of humanity. To seize and put into words, to describe directly the life of humanity or even of a single nation, appears impossible.
- In the spiritual realm nothing is indifferent: what is not useful is harmful.
- When one’s head is gone one doesn’t weep over one’s hair!
- The greater the state, the more wrong and cruel it’s patriotism, and the greater is the sum of suffering upon which its power is founded.
- At school he had done things that had formerly seemed to him very horrid and made him feel disgusted with himself when he did them; but when later on he saw that such actions were done by people of good position and that they did not regard them as wrong, he was able not exactly to regard them as right, but to forget about them entirely or not be at all troubled at remembering them.
- He remembered his mother’s love for him, and his family’s, and his friends, and the enemy’s intention to kill him seemed impossible.
- Giving alms is only a virtuous deed when you give money that you yourself worked to get.
- If so many men, so many minds, certainly so many hearts, so many kinds of love.
- What is called science today consists of a haphazard heap of information, united by nothing, often utterly unnecessary, and not only failing to present one unquestionable truth, but as often as not containing the grossest errors, today put forward as truths, and tomorrow overthrown.
- The error arises from the learned jurists deceiving themselves and others, by asserting that government is not what it really is, one set of men banded together to oppress another set of men, but, as shown by science, is the representation of the citizens in their collective capacity.
