Leo Tolstoy Quotes
-
There can be only one permanent revolution - a moral one; the regeneration of the inner man. How is this revolution to take place? Nobody knows how it will take place in humanity, but every man feels it clearly in himself. And yet in our world everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself.
-
Vengeance is mine; I will repay.
-
Service of the people by sciences and arts will only exist when men live with the people and as the people live, and without presenting any claims will offer their scientific and artistic services, which the people will be free to accept or decline as they please.
-
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.
-
When a person is haughty, he distances himself from other people and thereby deprives himself of one of life’s biggest pleasures-open, joyful communication with everyone.
-
The only thing that we know is that we know nothing - and that is the highest flight of human wisdom.
-
There is a scale of virtues, and it is necessary, if one would mount the higher steps, to begin with the lowest; and the first virtue a man must acquire if he wishes to acquire the others, is that which the ancients called ἐγκράτεια or σωφροσύνη - i.e., self-control or moderation.
-
Wealth brings a heavy purse; poverty, a light spirit.
-
A king is history's slave.
-
All state obligations are against the conscience of a Christian: the oath of allegiance, taxes, law proceedings and military service.
-
It is often better for a person to recognize a sin than to do a good deed. Recognizing a sin makes a person humble. Doing a good deed often can feed a person’s pride.
-
If a poor person envies a rich person, he is no better than the rich person.
-
Ivan Ilych's life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible.
-
He knew she was there by the joy and fear that overwhelmed his heart.
-
Science has adapted itself entirely to the wealthy classes and accordingly has set itself to heal those who can afford everything, and it prescribes the same methods for those who have nothing to spare.
-
One is ashamed to say how little is needed for all men to be delivered from those calamities which now oppress them; it is only needful not to lie.
-
In life, in true life, there can be nothing better than what is. Wanting something different than what is, is blasphemy.
-
The truth is that the State is a conspiracy designed not only to exploit, but above all to corrupt its citizens … Henceforth, I shall never serve any government anywhere.
-
A man can live and be healthy without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite. And to act so is immoral.
-
Error is the force that welds men together; truth is communicated to men only by deeds of truth.
-
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.
-
All violence consists in some people forcing others, under threat of suffering or death, to do what they do not want to do.
-
As soon as men live entirely in accord with the law of love natural to their hearts and now revealed to them, which excludes all resistance by violence, and therefore hold aloof from all participation in violence - as soon as this happens, not only will hundreds be unable to enslave millions, but not even millions will be able to enslave a single individual.
-
He stepped down, trying not to look long at her, as if she were the sun, yet he saw her, like the sun, even without looking.