“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

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "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 former…" by Leo Tolstoy?
Leo Tolstoy photo
Leo Tolstoy456
Russian writer 1828–1910

Related quotes

Cassandra Clare photo

“Will had shrugged once, helplessly. He had almost wished Jem would be angry with him. It would have been easier. He'd never felt so small within himself as he did when he faced Jem's expansive kindness.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Princess

Source: Clockwork Princess

Tove Jansson photo

“The hemulen woke up slowly and recognised himself and wished he had been someone he didn't know.”

Tove Jansson book Moominvalley in November

Source: Moominvalley in November

Miguel de Cervantes photo

“He … got the better of himself, and that's the best kind of victory one can wish for.”

Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright

Source: Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605–1615), Part II (1615), Book IV, Ch. 72.

“He wished he had inhabited more of his life, used it better, filled it fuller.”

Anne Tyler The Amateur Marriage

Source: The Amateur Marriage

Friedrich Nietzsche photo

“It was a subtle refinement of God to learn Greek when he wished to write a book – and that he did not learn it better.”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist

“A man´s study reflects himself as he wishes to be seen publicly, but his journal, if he is honest, reflects something else.”

John Brooks (writer) (1920–1993) American writer

Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street

Arthur C. Clarke photo

“He had wished to convince himself that Comarre was evil. Now he knew that it was not. There would always be, even in Utopia, some for whom the world had nothing to offer but sorrow and disillusion.”

Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008) British science fiction writer, science writer, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host

The Lion of Comarre, p. 151
2000s and posthumous publications, The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (2001)

Nicholas Sparks photo

“Thinking back, he recalled events he wished he could change, tears he wished had never been shed, time that could have been better spent, and frustrations he should have shrugged off. Life, it seemed, was full of regret, and he yearned to turn back the clock so he could live parts of his live over again. One thing was certain: He should have been a better husband.”

Nicholas Sparks (1965) American writer and novelist

Travis Parker, Chapter 15, p. 192
2000s, The Choice (2007)

“And at that moment Jude thought something that he would never forgive himself for.
He wished that he had never met any of them.”

Melina Marchetta book On the Jellicoe Road

Source: On the Jellicoe Road

“What had happened? As he asked himself the question, he knew the answer. That no one had thought fit to tell him! No one! It was a bitter pill for him to swallow. He had been forgotten. Yet he had always wished to be forgotten. He could not have it both ways.”

Mervyn Peake book Titus Groan

Source: Titus Groan (1946), Chapter 69 “Mr Rottcodd Again” (p. 393)

Related topics