Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy; 9 September 1828 – 20 November 1910), usually referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer who is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time...
NationalityRussian
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth28 August 1828
CountryRussian Federation
dies matter peasant performs religion rituals true
A peasant dies calmly because he is not a Christian. He performs the rituals as a matter of course, but his true religion is different. His religion is nature, with which he has lived.
loves might wish
If one loves, one loves the whole person as he or she is, and not as one might wish them to be.
bad evil good granted men power precisely present rule saying taken time
In saying that without the power of the state, evil men would rule over the good. It is taken for granted that the good are precisely those who at the present time have power, and the bad the same who are no subjugated.
appearing arises becomes begins boat calm chief consciousness delusion efforts enormous feeble finds frail himself history holding hook instead kept labor longer move moves moving naturally people population quiet reaches remains reward rule ruler sea seems ship soon source storm suddenly untroubled
In quiet and untroubled times it seems to every administrator that it is only by his efforts that the whole population under his rule is kept going, and in this consciousness of being indispensable every administrator finds the chief reward of his labor and efforts. While the sea of history remains calm the ruler-administrator in his frail bark, holding on with a boat hook to the ship of the people and himself moving, naturally imagines that his efforts move the ship he is holding on to. But as soon as a storm arises and the sea begins to heave and the ship to move, such a delusion is no longer possible. The ship moves independently with its own enormous motion, the boat hook no longer reaches the moving vessel, and suddenly the administrator, instead of appearing a ruler and a source of power, becomes an insignificant, useless, feeble man.
bear sends strength
He sends a cross, but He also sends the strength to bear it.
accept admit delighted ease explaining fabric including oblige problems proudly seldom simplest taught truth
I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of thegreatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and mostobvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsityof conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues,which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven,thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives.
drive flies fly glass second third wee
The first glass you drive in like a stake, the second flies like a crake, and after the third they fly like wee little birds.
families family happy unhappy
All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way
problem
Just when the question of how to live had become clearer to him, a new insoluble problem presented itself - Death.
hate purpose world
Are we not all flung into the world for no other purpose than to hate each other, and so to torture ourselves and one another?
fairytale knows
… for nightinggales - we know - can’t live on fairytales.
dark night glowing
Her face was brilliant and glowing; but this glow was not one of brightness; it suggested the fearful glow of a conflagration in the midst of a dark night.
lying mean deceit
We are all created to be miserable, and that we all know it, and all invent means of deceiving each other. And when one sees the truth, what is one to do?
hateful spirit miserable
I have nothing to make me miserable," she said, getting calmer; "but can you understand that everything has become hateful, loathsome, coarse to me, and I myself most of all? You can't imagine what loathsome thoughts I have about everything." "Why, whatever loathsome thoughts can you have?" asked Dolly, smiling. "The most utterly loathsome and coarse; I can't tell you. It's not unhappiness, or low spirits, but much worse. As though everything that was good in me was all hidden away, and nothing was left but the most loathsome.