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Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy Quotes

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Famous Leo Tolstoy Quotes

“In our age the common religious perception of men is the consciousness of the brotherhood of man - we know that the well-being of man lies in the union with his fellow men. True science should indicate the various methods of applying this consciousness to life. Art should transform this perception into feeling.”

KnowsMenShouldWellsArtFeelingsAgeLyingReligiousCommonConsciousnessPerceptionMethodFellowsUnionsVariousWell BeingBrotherhoodFellow ManLying MenBrotherhood Of Man
Book:What is Art?:
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“At the approach of danger two voices speak with equal force in the heart of man: one very reasonably tells the man to consider the nature of the danger and the means of avoiding it and the other, even more reasonable, says that it is too painful and harassing to think of the danger... better to turn aside from the painful subject till it has come, and to think of what is pleasant. In solitude a man generally yields to the first voice; in society to the second.”

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Author:Leo Tolstoy
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“Real art, like the wife of an affectionate husband, needs no ornaments. But counterfeit art, like a prostitute, must always be decked out. The cause of production of real art is the artist's inner need to express a feeling that has accumulated...The cause of counterfeit art, as of prostitution, is gain. The consequence of true art is the introduction of a new feeling into the intercourse of life... The consequences of counterfeit art are the perversion of man, pleasure which never satisfies, and the weakening of man's spiritual strength.”

MenNeedsArtRealFeelingsSpiritualArtistCausesPleasureWifeHusbandArt IsConsequenceGainsProductionsOriginalityIntroductionProstitutionIntercourseOrnamentsAffectionatePerversionCounterfeitWeakeningSpiritual StrengthNew Feelings
Author:Leo Tolstoy
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“There can be only one permanent revolution - a moral one; the regeneration of the inner man. How is this revolution to take place? Nobody knows how it will take place in humanity, but every man feels it clearly in himself. And yet in our world everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself.”

ThinkingKnowsMenWorldFeelsHumanityMoralKnow HowRevolutionEvery ManPermanentOur WorldNobody KnowsRegeneration
Book:Pamphlets. Translated from the Russian
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“The role of the disappointed lover of a maiden or of any single woman might be ridiculous; but the role of a man who was pursuing a married woman, and who made it the purpose of his life at all cost to draw her into adultery, was one which had in it something beautiful and dignified and could never be ridiculous.”

MenMadeMightBeautifulPurposeRolesLoversCostMarriedDrawsRidiculousMade ItDisappointedAdulteryMaidensSomething BeautifulSingle WomenMarried Women
Book:ANNA KARENINA – Two Unabridged Translations in One Premium Edition (World Classics Series): The Greatest Romantic Tragedy of All Times from the Renowned Author of War and Peace & The Death of Ivan Ilyich (Including Biographies of the Author)
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“Government is violence, Christianity is meekness, non-resistance, love. And, therefore, government cannot be Christian, and a man who wishes to be a Christian must not serve government.”

MenGovernmentChristianWishChristianityViolenceResistanceMeekness
Book:The Complete Works of Leo Tolstoy: Novels, Short Stories, Plays, Memoirs, Letters & Essays on Art, Religion and Politics: Anna Karenina, War and Peace, Resurrection, The Death of Ivan Ilych, A Confession, The Cossacks, Correspondences with Gandhi, The Kreutzer Sonata, Fables and Stories for Childrenand Many More
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“Only the truth and its expression can establish that new public opinion which will reform the ancient obsolete and pernicious order of life; and yet we not only do not express the truth we know, but often even distinctly give expression to what we ourselves regard as false. If only free men would not rely on that which has no power, and is always fettered upon external aids; but would trust in that which is always powerful and free the truth and its expression!”

IfsKnowsMenGivingOrderPowerfulOpinionExpressionRegardAncientAidsReformRelyPublic OpinionObsoleteFree ManPernicious
Book:Essays, letters, misc. (General articles ; Famine articles ; The Dukhobors)
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“The error arises from the learned jurists deceiving themselves and others, by asserting that government is not what it really is, one set of men banded together to oppress another set of men , but, as shown by science, is the representation of the citizens in their collective capacity.”

MenGovernmentTogetherCitizensCapacityErrorsAriseCollectivesDeceivingRepresentationJurists
Book:The Kingdom of God Is Within You: Easyread Large Bold Edition
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“People continued regardless of all that leads man forward to try to unite the incompatibles:;: the virtue of love, and what is opposed to love, namely, the restraining of evil by violence. And such a teaching, despite its inner contradiction, was so firmly established that the very people who recognize love as a virtue accept as lawful at the same time an order of life based on violence and allowing men not merely to torture but even to kill one another.”

PeopleMenTryingOrderEvilAcceptingVirtueViolenceTeachingDespiteTortureContradictionAllowingRestraining
Author:Leo Tolstoy
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“Man's mind cannot grasp the causes of events in their completeness, but the desire to find the causes is implanted in man's soul.”

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Book:WAR AND PEACE Complete Edition – All 15 Books in One Volume (World Classics Series): The Magnum Opus of the Greatest Russian Novelists and Author of Anna Karenina & The Death of Ivan Ilyich (Including the Biography & Memoirs of the Author)
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“When it is impossible to stretch the very elastic threads of historical ratiocination any farther, when actions are clearly contrary to all that humanity calls right or even just, the historians produce a saving conception of 'greatness.' 'Greatness,' it seems, excludes the standards of right and wrong. For the 'great' man nothing is wrong, there is no atrocity for which a 'great' man can be blamed.”

MenSeemsActionHumanityImpossibleGreatnessProduceStandardsHistoricalContrarySavingGreat MenConceptionHistorianThreadAtrocities
Book:War and Peace
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“If people lacked the capacity to receive the thoughts of the men who preceded them and to pass on to others their own thoughts, men would be like wild beasts. And if men lacked this other capacity of being infected by art, people would be almost more savage still, and, above all, more separated from and more hostile to one another. Therefore the activity of art is a most important one, as important as the activity of speech itself and as generally diffused.”

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Author:Leo Tolstoy
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“The highest wisdom has but one science-the science of the whole-the science explaining the whole creation and man's place in it.”

MenWholeCreationHighestExplaining
Book:WAR AND PEACE Complete Edition – All 15 Books in One Volume (World Classics Series): The Magnum Opus of the Greatest Russian Novelists and Author of Anna Karenina & The Death of Ivan Ilyich (Including the Biography & Memoirs of the Author)
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“Slavery results from laws, laws are made by governments, and, therefore people can only be freed from slavery by the abolition of governments.... And it is time for people to understand that governments not only are not necessary, but are harmful and most highly immoral institutions, in which a self-respecting, honest man cannot and must not take part.”

PeopleMenMadeSelfGovernmentLawResultsHonestInstitutionsSlaveryImmoralHonest ManAbolition
Author:Leo Tolstoy
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“But Christ could certainly not have established the Church. That is, the institution we now call by that name, for nothing resembling our present conception of the Church-with its sacraments, its hierarchy, and especially its claim to infallibility-is to be found in Christ's words or in the conception of the men of his time.”

MenFoundNamesChristChurchHe ManClaimsInstitutionsConceptionSacramentsHierarchyInfallibility
Book:The kingdom of God: and peace essays
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“A man can live and be healthy without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite.”

IfsMenHumanityAnimalFoodHealthHealthyKillingSakeMeatPetCulinaryVegetarianVeganAppetiteAnimal RightsVegetarianismVeganismAnimal LoveVegetarian HealthPet AnimalsAnimal LifeFunny FoodAnimal CompassionVegan DietEating AnimalsEating MeatVegan HealthVegetarian DietInspirational AnimalMeat EatingVegetarian FoodRed MeatVegan FoodAnimal FoodKilling AnimalsMeat ConsumptionAppetite For LifeRaw Meat
Book:The Novels and Other Works of Lyof N. Tolstoï
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