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
effort useless littles
The more mental effort he made the clearer he saw that it was undoubtedly so: that he had really forgotten and overlooked one little circumstance in life - that Death would come and end everything, so that it was useless to begin anything, and that there was no help for it, Yes it was terrible but true
use praying judgment
Well, pray if you like, only you'd do better to use your judgment.
two people use
There are two methods of human activity - and according to which one of these two kinds of activity people mainly follow, are there two kinds of people: One use their reason to learn what is good and what is bad and they act according to this knowledge; the other act as they want to and then they use their reason to prove that that which they did was good and that which they didn't do was bad.
men goal use
Each man lives for himself, uses his freedom to achieve his personal goals, and feels with his whole being that right now he can or cannot do such-and-such an action; but as soon as he does it, this action, committed at a certain moment in time, becomes irreversible, and makes itself the property of history, in which is has not a free but a predestined significance.
unhappy world use
What is reason given me for, if I am not to use it to avoid bringing unhappy beings into the world!
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.
useless mediocre knows
Better to know a few things which are good and necessary than many things which are useless and mediocre
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.
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.
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.
beautiful beauty hear illusion strange suppose thoughts wise woman
What a strange illusion it is to suppose that beauty is goodness! A beautiful woman utters absurdities: we listen, and we hear not the absurdities but wise thoughts
absolute attractive believe body both citizen easily englishman forgets frenchman himself invented italian knows men mind personally regards repulsive russian science since state stronger truth worst
A Frenchman is self-assured because he regards himself personally both in mind and body as irresistibly attractive to men and women. An Englishman is self-assured as being a citizen of the best-organized state in the world and therefore, as an Englishman, always knows what he should do and knows that all he does as an Englishman is undoubtedly correct. An Italian is self-assured because he is excitable and easily forgets himself and other people. A Russian is self-assured just because he knows nothing and does not want to know anything, since he does not believe that anything can be known. The German's self-assurance is worst of all, stronger and more repulsive than any other, because he imagines that he knows the truth -- science -- which he himself has invented but which is for him the absolute truth.
given increase less people poverty work
The more is given the less people will work for themselves, and the less they work the more their poverty will increase
church convinced crafty evil gross practice teaching theory witchcraft
I am convinced that the teaching of the church is in theory a crafty and evil lie, and in practice a concoction of gross superstition and witchcraft