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Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy Quotes

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Famous Leo Tolstoy Quotes

“It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness. A handsome woman talks nonsense, you listen and hear not nonsense but cleverness. She says and does horrid things, and you see only charm. And if a handsome woman does not say stupid or horrid things, you at once persuade yourself that she is wonderfully clever and moral.”

IfsDoeMoralStupidGoodnessCleverCharmNonsenseDelusionHandsomeCleverness
Book:The Kreutzer Sonata and Other Stories
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“What are wanted ...are not Constitutions and Revolutions, nor all sorts of Conferences and Congresses, nor the many ingenious devices for submarine navigation and aerial navigation, nor powerful explosives, nor all sorts of conveniences to add to the enjoyment of the rich, ruling classes... but one thing only is needful: the knowledge of the simple and clear truth ...that for our life one law is valid - the law of love, which brings the highest happiness to every individual as well as to all mankind.”

LifeWellsWantedLawIndividualSimplePowerfulClassRichClearOur LivesOne ThingMankindRevolutionHighestConstitutionAddCongressEnjoymentDevicesRulingConferencesConvenienceIngeniousExplosivesNavigationSubmarines
Author:Leo Tolstoy
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“As soon as men live entirely in accord with the law of love natural to their hearts and now revealed to them, which excludes all resistance by violence, and therefore hold aloof from all participation in violence - as soon as this happens, not only will hundreds be unable to enslave millions, but not even millions will be able to enslave a single individual.”

MenLifeHeartHappensAbleLawIndividualNaturalMillionsViolenceResistanceParticipationAccordAloof
Book:Leo Tolstoy: Letters and Papers
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“The time is fast approaching when to call a man a patriot will be the deepest insult you can offer him. Patriotism now means advocating plunder in the interest of the privileged classes of the particular State system into which we have happened to be born.”

MenMeanStatesInterestBornClassHappenedParticularOffersInsultPatriotismPatriotPrivilegedAdvocatingPlunderInsults You
Book:I Cannot be Silent: Writings on Politics, Art and Religion by Leo Tolstoy
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“Seas of blood have been shed for the sake of patriotism. One would expect the harm and irrationality of patriotism to be self-evident to everyone. But the surprising fact is that cultured and learned people not only do not notice the harm and stupidity of patriotism, they resist every unveiling of it with the greatest obstinacy and passion (with no rational grounds), and continue to praise it as beneficent and elevating.”

PeopleHas BeensSelfFactsPassionBloodSeaPraiseSakeStupidityHarmRationalPatriotismSurprisingShedEvidentIrrationalityObstinacyElevatingUnveiling
Author:Leo Tolstoy
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“The feeling of patriotism - It is an immoral feeling because, instead of confessing himself a son of God . . . or even a free man guided by his own reason, each man under the influence of patriotism confesses himself the son of his fatherland and the slave of his government, and commits actions contrary to his reason and conscience.”

MenReasonFeelingsGovernmentActionInfluenceSonConscienceSlaveContraryCommitPatriotismPatriotImmoralFree ManScoundrelsConfessingFatherland
Book:I Cannot be Silent: Writings on Politics, Art and Religion by Leo Tolstoy
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“If patriotism is good, then Christianity, which gives peace, is an idle dream, and the sooner this teaching is eradicated, the better. But if Christianity really gives peace, and if we really want peace, then patriotism is a leftover from barbarous times, which must not only not be evoked and taught, as we now do, but which must be eradicated by all means of preaching, persuasion, contempt, and ridicule. If Christianity is the truth, and if we wish to live in peace, then we must not only have no sympathy for the power of our country, but must even rejoice in its weakening and contribute to it.”

IfsWantGivingMeanCountryDreamWishChristianityTeachingTaughtOur CountryPatriotismContemptRejoicePreachingIdlePersuasionRidiculeWeakeningNo Sympathy
Author:Leo Tolstoy
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“The law of violence is not a law, but a simple fact which can only be a law when it does not meet with protest and opposition. It is like the cold, darkness and weight, which people had to put up with until recently when warmth, illumination and leverage were discovered.”

PeopleDoeFactsLawPeaceSimpleDarknessViolenceColdWeightOppositionProtestWarmthIlluminationUbuntu
Book:A Confession and Other Religious Writings
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“I looked more widely around me, I studied the lives of the masses of humanity, and I saw that, not two or three, or ten, but hundreds, thousands, millions, had so understood the meaning of life that they were able both to live and to die. All these people were well acquainted with the meaning of life and death, quietly labored, endured privation and suffering, lived and died, and saw in all this, not a vain, but a good thing.”

PeopleLifeWellsTwoAbleSufferingHumanityDiesThreeMillionsCourageSawsTenMassUnderstoodDiedGood ThingsVainMeaning Of LifeLife And Death
Author:Leo Tolstoy
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“The sobs and tears of joy he had not foreseen rose with such force within him that his whole body shook and for a long time prevented him from speaking. Falling on his knees by her bed. He held his wife's hand to his lips and kissed it, and her hand responded to his kisses with weak movement of finger. Meanwhile, at the foot of the bed, in the midwife's expert hands, like the flame of a lamp, flickered the life of a human being who had never existed before.”

LifeHumansLongWholeBodyHandsJoyFallForceHuman BeingsWifeFeetMovementTearsBedKissingLong TimeWeakRoseFingersLipsKneesFlamesExpertsLampsMidwifeForeseenKissing HerLips And KissingTears Of Joy
Author:Leo Tolstoy
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