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Leo Tolstoy Quotes
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456 Quotes on Self-Reflection, Patience, Love, and the Essence of Life

Unlock the wisdom of Leo Tolstoy, a literary genius. Explore his profound quotes on self-reflection, patience, love, and the essence of life. Dive into human nature and personal development.

Leo Tolstoy, widely considered one of the greatest authors of all time, was born in Russia in 1828. He gained recognition for his novels "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina," which are regarded as masterpieces of realist fiction. Tolstoy's literary success began in his twenties with his semi-autobiographical trilogy and Sevastopol Sketches, based on his experiences in the Crimean War. In addition to his novels, he wrote numerous short stories and novellas along with plays and essays exploring philosophical, moral, and religious themes.

In the 1870s, Tolstoy underwent a profound moral crisis that led to a significant spiritual awakening detailed in his non-fiction work "Confession." His interpretation of Jesus' teachings, notably the Sermon on the Mount, inspired him to become a fervent Christian anarchist and pacifist. His ideas on nonviolent resistance had a profound impact on influential figures of the 20th century like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Ludwig Wittgenstein. Tolstoy also championed Georgism, an economic philosophy by Henry George, which he incorporated into his writing—particularly in his novel "Resurrection." His lasting legacy extends beyond literature as an advocate for peace, nonviolence, and social justice.

✵ 28. August 1828 – 7. November 1910  •  Other names Lev Tolstoj, Lev N. Tolstoj, Лев Толстой
Leo Tolstoy photo
Leo Tolstoy: 456 quotes64 likes

Leo Tolstoy Quotes

“As long as there are slaughter houses there will always be battlefields.”

Leo Tolstoy book What is my faith

Source: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/42064-as-long-as-there-are-slaughter-houses-there-will-always/ What I believe, 1885

“A man on a thousand mile walk has to forget his goal and say to himself every morning, 'Today I'm going to cover twenty-five miles and then rest up and sleep.”

Leo Tolstoy book War and Peace

Source: War and Peace

“In the best, the friendliest and simplest relations flattery or praise is necessary, just as grease is necessary to keep wheels turning.”

Leo Tolstoy book War and Peace

Source: War and Peace

“One must be cunning and wicked in this world.”

Leo Tolstoy book War and Peace

Source: War and Peace

“Anna spoke not only naturally and intelligently, but intelligently and casually, without attaching any value to her own thoughts, yet giving great value to the thoughts of the one she was talking to.”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Source: Anna Karenina

“What am I coming for?" he repeated, looking straight into her eyes. "You know that I have come to be where you are," he said; "I can't help it.”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Source: Anna Karenina

“To educate the peasantry, three things are needed: schools, schools and schools.”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Source: Anna Karenina

“All that day she had had the feeling that she was playing in the theatre with actors better than herself and that her poor playing spoiled the whole thing.”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Source: Anna Karenina

“You say: I am not free. But I have raised and lowered my arm. Everyone understands that this illogical answer is an irrefutable proof of freedom.”

Leo Tolstoy book War and Peace

Source: War and Peace

“In the midst of winter, I find within me the invisible summer…”

Leo Tolstoy The Kingdom of God Is Within You

Source: The Kingdom of God Is Within You

“Ivan Ilych's life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible.”

Leo Tolstoy The Death of Ivan Ilyich

Source: The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886), Ch. II
Source: The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories

“And not only the pride of intellect, but the stupidity of intellect. And, above all, the dishonesty, yes, the dishonesty of intellect. Yes, indeed, the dishonesty and trickery of intellect.”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Source: Anna Karenina

“There will be today, there will be tomorrow, there will be always, and there was yesterday, and there was the day before…”

Leo Tolstoy book War and Peace

Source: War and Peace

“The business of art lies just in this, -- to make that understood and felt which, in the form of an argument, might be incomprehensible and inaccessible.”

Leo Tolstoy book What Is Art?

Source: What Is Art?

“Writing laws is easy, but governing is difficult.”

Leo Tolstoy book War and Peace

Source: War and Peace

“Can it be that I have not lived as one ought?" suddenly came into his head. "But how not so, when I've done everything as it should be done?”

Leo Tolstoy

Source: The Death of Ivan Ilych

“she smiled at him, and at her own fears.”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Source: Anna Karenina

“Friends we shall never be, you know that yourself. Whether we shall be the happiest or the wretchedest of people--that's in your hands.”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Source: Anna Karenina

“In infinite time, in infinite matter, in infinite space, is formed a bubble organism, and that bubble lasts a while and bursts, and that bubble is Me.”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Source: Anna Karenina

“Just as a painter needs light in order to put the finishing touches to his picture, so I need an inner light, which I feel I never have enough of in the autumn.”

Leo Tolstoy

“All we can know is that we know nothing. And that's the height of human wisdom.”

Leo Tolstoy book War and Peace

Variant: The only thing that we know is that we know nothing — and that is the highest flight of human wisdom.
Source: War and Peace (1865–1867; 1869), Ch. I

“Teach French and unteach sincerity.”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Source: Anna Karenina

“He liked fishing and seemed to take pride in being able to like such a stupid occupation.”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Source: Anna Karenina

“Every man and every living creature has a sacred right to the gladness of springtime.”

Leo Tolstoy book Resurrection

Source: Resurrection

“We love people not so much for the good they've done us, as for the good we've done them.”

Leo Tolstoy book War and Peace

Source: War and Peace

“There it is!' he thought with rapture. 'When I was already in despair, and when it seemed there would be no end- there it is! She loves me. She's confessed it.”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Source: Anna Karenina

“When one's head is gone one doesn't weep over one's hair!”

Leo Tolstoy book War and Peace

Source: War and Peace

“There are as many kinds of love, as there are hearts”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Source: Anna Karenina

“He felt that he was himself and did not wish to be anyone else. He only wished now to be better than he had been formerly”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Source: Anna Karenina

“If goodness has causes, it is not goodness; if it has effects, a reward, it is not goodness either. So goodness is outside the chain of cause and effect.”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Source: Anna Karenina

“One can no more approach people without love than one can approach bees without care. Such is the quality of bees…”

Leo Tolstoy

“A battle is won by him who is firmly resolved to win it.”

Leo Tolstoy book War and Peace

Source: War and Peace

“I don't allow myself to doubt myself even for a moment.”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Source: Anna Karenina

“the same question arose in every soul: "For what, for whom, must I kill and be killed?"… p982”

Leo Tolstoy book War and Peace

Source: War and Peace

“In all human sorrow nothing gives comfort but love and faith, and that in the sight of Christ's compassion for us no sorrow is trifling.”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Source: Anna Karenina

“For if we allow that human life is always guided by reason, we destroy the premise that life is possible at all.”

Leo Tolstoy book War and Peace

Source: War and Peace

“Ah, if everyone was as sensitive as you! There's no girl who hasn't gone through that. And it's all so unimportant!”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Source: Anna Karenina

“I don't want to prove anything; I merely want to live, to do no one harm but myself. I have the right to do that, haven't I?”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Source: Anna Karenina

“There was no answer, except the general answer life gives to all the most complex and insoluble questions. That answer is: one must live for the needs of the day, in other words, become oblivious. To become oblivious in dreams was impossible now, at least till night-time; it was impossible to return to that music sung by carafe-women; and so one had to become oblivious in the dreams of life.”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Pt. 1, ch. 2
Source: Anna Karenina (1875–1877; 1878)

“God forgive me everything!’ she said, feeling the impossibility of struggling…”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Source: Anna Karenina

“It's too easy to criticize a man when he's out of favour, and to make him shoulder the blame for everybody else's mistakes.”

Leo Tolstoy book War and Peace

Source: War and Peace