Quotessence
Home / Authors / Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy Quotes

Writer

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenPeopleIfsLifeLoveKnowsInspirationalWorldHumansArtWarShouldThinkingReasonSoulFeelingsHumanityHeartMeanLying

Famous Leo Tolstoy Quotes

“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
Create image

“If you do not know your place in the world and the meaning of your life, you should know there is something to blame; and it is not the social system, or your intellect, but the way in which you have directed your intellect.”

IfsKnowsWorldWayShouldSocialBlameIntellectMeaning Of LifePlaces In The WorldSocial Systems
Book:A Calendar of Wisdom: Daily Thoughts to Nourish the Soul, Written and Se
Create image

“I understood, not with my intellect but with my whole being, that no theories of the rationality of existence or of progress could justify such an act; I realized that even if all the people in the world from the day of creation found this to be necessary according to whatever theory, I knew that it was not necessary and that it was wrong. Therefore, my judgments must be based-on what is right and necessary and not on what people say and do; I must judge not according to progress but according to my own heart.”

PeopleIfsWorldHeartWholeFoundMy OwnExistenceProgressCreationJudgingTheoryJudgmentUnderstoodIntellectI RealizedJustifyRationality
Author:Leo Tolstoy
Create image

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”

ThinkingWorldInspirationalCharacterMotivationalHappinessChangeInspiringIdentityChangedIntegrityDiversitySpringSelf ImprovementReflectionEmbraceEducationalLife ChangingChanging The WorldHypocrisyMaking A DifferenceThought ProvokingMaking ChangesReflectingMy PastDopeRippleChange YourselfMinimalistBig ChangesInspirational ChangeSmall ChangesTime For A ChangeChange Of HeartMaking A Difference In The WorldTimes Have ChangedChange And GrowthPeople ChangingAccepting ChangeEmbrace ChangeCreating ChangeLife Changing InspirationalI Have ChangedBusiness ChangeChanging AttitudeOne Person Can Make A DifferenceAfraid Of ChangeChange GrowthInevitable ChangeInspiring ChangeProcess Of ChangeSmall DifferencesEducational ChangePeople From The PastTransforming The WorldCreating YourselfWhy ChangeIs It Worth ItSelf ChangeSystems ChangeChanging RealityHelping Everyone
Author:Leo Tolstoy
Create image

“He could not be mistaken. There were no other eyes like those in the world. There was only one creature in the world who could concentrate for him all the brightness and meaning of life. It was she. It was Kitty.”

WorldEyeCreaturesMeaning Of LifeMistakenBrightnessKitties
Book:Anna Karenina (The Illustrated Edition): 40 original pictures from the first book with illustrations in 1913
Create image

“He felt all the torment of his and her position, all the difficulties they were surrounded by in consequence of their station in life, which exposed them to the eyes of the whole world, obliged them to hide their love, to lie and deceive, and again to lie and deceive, to scheme and constantly think about others while the passion that bound them was so strong that they both forgot everything but their love.”

ThinkingWorldWholeEyeLyingPassionStrongFeltPositionConsequenceDifficultyBoundsWhole WorldStationsExposedDeceivingSchemesTormentObliged
Book:The Works of Leo Tolstoy ...: Anna Karénina, tr. by Louise and Aylmer Maude
Create image

“The essence of any religion lies solely in the answer to the question: why do I exist, and what is my relationship to the infinite universe that surrounds me? It is impossible for there to be a person with no religion (i.e. without any kind of relationship to the world) as it is for there to be a person without a heart. He may not know that he has a religion, just as a person may not know that he has a heart, but it is no more possible for a person to exist without a religion than without a heart.”

KnowsWorldHeartKindMayPersonsLyingUniverseAnswersImpossibleAtheismEssenceInfiniteSurroundAgnosticismInfinite Universe
Author:Leo Tolstoy
Create image

“The goal of our life should not be to find joy in marriage, but to bring more love and truth into the world. We marry to assist each other in this task. The most selfish and hateful life of all is that of two beings who unite in order to enjoy life. The highest calling is that of the man who has dedicated his life to serving God and doing good, and who unites with a woman in order to further that purpose.”

MenWorldShouldTwoJoyPurposeOrderEnjoyGoalMarriageOur LivesHe ManCallingHighestTasksSelfishServingDedicatedServing GodEnjoy LifeHatefulDoing GoodTruth And Love
Author:Leo Tolstoy
Create image

“We live in this world like a child who enters a room where a clever person is speaking. The child did not hear the beginning of the speech, and he leaves before the end; and there are certain things which he hears but does not understand”

WorldInspirationalChildrenPersonsDoeEndsCertainRoomsThis WorldSpeechCleverClever Person
Book:A Calendar of Wisdom: Daily Thoughts to Nourish the Soul, Written and Se
Create image

“India, which is the nursery of the great faiths of the world”

WorldIndiaNurseNurseryGreat Faith
Book:The Spiritual Works of Leo Tolstoy: A Confession, The Kingdom of God is Within You, What I Believe, Christianity and Patriotism, Reason and Religion, The Gospel in Brief and more: Lessons on What it Means to be a True Christian From the Greatest Russian Novelists and Author of War and Peace & Anna Karenina (Including Letter to a Kind YouthandCorrespondences with Gandhi)
Create image

“Just imagine that the purpose of life is happinesss only- then life becomes a cruel and senseless thing.You have to embrace what the wisdom of humanity,your intellect and your heart tell you: that the meaning of life is to serve the force that sent you into the world.Then life becomes a joy”

WorldHeartLife IsJoyPurposeHumanityForceImagineEmbraceIntellectMeaning Of LifePurpose Of LifeImagine That
Book:A Calendar of Wisdom: Daily Thoughts to Nourish the Soul, Written and Se
Create image

“All were happy - plants, birds, insects and children. But grown-up people - adult men and women - never left off cheating and tormenting themselves and one another. It was not this spring morning which they considered sacred and important, not the beauty of God's world, given to all creatures to enjoy - a beauty which inclines the heart to peace, to harmony and to love.”

PeopleMenWorldHeartChildrenImportantLeftGivenEnjoyMorningCreaturesSpringBirdMen And WomenAdultsHarmonySacredPlantCheatingInsectsIncline
Author:Leo Tolstoy
Create image