Leo Tolstoy
Author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina
Most quoted
"One of the most widespread superstitions is that every man has his own special, definite qualities: that he is kind, cruel, wise, stupid, energetic, apathetic, etc. Men are not like that... men are like rivers: the water is the same in each, and alike in all; but every river is narrow here, is more rapid there, here slower, there broader, now clear, now cold, now dull, now warm. It is the same with men."
— from War and Peace, 1869
"A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbor — such is my idea of happiness."
— from Family Happiness, 1878
"The anarchists are right in everything; in the negation of the existing order, and in the idea of a state of society based on freedom and equality, in the idea of a future social order; only they are on the wrong track in believing that this state of society can be brought about by violence."
— from Letter to a Non-Commissioned Officer, 1900
All quotes by Leo Tolstoy (276)
The only true art is that which expresses love.
The only true happiness is in serving others.
The only true wealth is in giving.
The only true beauty is in goodness.
The only true freedom is in obedience to God.
The only true religion is in doing good.
Truth, like gold, is not to be obtained by growing, but by digging.
It is not the quantity of knowledge but the quality of knowledge that determines the future of mankind.
If you are not living for others, then you are not living.
The highest wisdom has but one science—the science of the whole—the science explaining the whole creation and man's place in it.
He was one of those people who are never satisfied with themselves, and who, however much they may be praised, always find something to blame in themselves.
The only way to be saved from the terrible consequences of war is to abolish it.
Art is a human activity having for its purpose the transmission to others of the highest and best feelings to which men have risen.
It is easier to make a saint out of a debauchee than out of a man who is only half-virtuous.
The one thing that is necessary is to be good, and to love one's neighbor.
Everything depends on education.
To be good and to love one's neighbor is the only thing that is necessary.
The most important of all the commandments is this: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'
One can only be happy when one does not think of happiness.
The family is the nucleus of society.
Contemporaries of Leo Tolstoy
Other Literatures born within 50 years of Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910).