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
art children thinking
The life of our class, of the wealthy and the learned, was not only repulsive to me but had lost all meaning. The sum of our action and thinking, of our science and art, all of it struck me as the overindulgences of a spoiled child.
men profound answers
I began to realize that the most profound wisdom of man was rooted in the answers given by faith and that I did not have the right to deny them on the grounds of reason; above all, I realized that these answers alone can form a reply to the question of life.
men order people
In order to know what he is, a man must first know what the sum of this mysterious humanity is, a humanity made up of people who, like himself, do not understand what they are.
hands poor
With one hand I take thousands of rubles from the poor, and with the other I hand back a few kopecks.
thinking people mind
One can often hear from the young people:" I do not want to live according to others` mind. I can think of it myself. " Why should one think of something, when it is already thought about. Take it and go farther, this is the strength of the mankind.
wise ideas useful-things
The ideas of the wise have been tested by centuries. Everything medium is lost and only original, deep and useful things are left.
movement social products
History is the product of vast, amorphous and indecipherable social movements.
art mean feelings
In the evolution of knowledge-mistaken and unnecessary beliefs are forced out and supplanted by truer and more necessary knowledge. So too in the evolution of feelings, which takes place by means of art. Lower feelings-less kind and less needed for the good of humanity-are forced out and replaced by kinder feelings which better serve us individually and collectively. This is the purpose of art.
giving office
The true office of any faith is to give life a meaning which death cannot destroy.
mean hands revolution
Every revolution by force only puts more violent means of enslavement into the hands of the persons in power.
unhappiness unsaid left
Much unhappiness has come from things left unsaid
ideas interesting perfect
Too much polishing and you spoil things. There's a limit to the expressibility of ideas. You have a new thought, an interesting one. Then, as you try to perfect it, it ceases to be new and interesting, and loses the freshness with which it first occurred to you. You're spoiling it.
men superstitions scientist
One of the most obtuse superstitions is the superstition of the scientists who say that man can exist without faith.
long denial demand
I was now prepared to accept any faith so long as it did not demand a direct denial of reason, which would have been a deceit.