Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy

29 quotes

Leo Tolstoy, a Russian writer, is widely remembered for insights that continue to resonate with readers everywhere. Whether reflecting on Men or War, Leo Tolstoy brought uncommon clarity to every subject. 45 of Leo Tolstoy's sharpest quotes live here, spanning themes of Men, War, Life, Work, and Truth. A favorite of many readers: "One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between Man and Nature shall not be broken."

“There is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness and truth.”

— Leo Tolstoy

Truth

All Quotes by Leo Tolstoy

“To say that a work of art is good, but incomprehensible to the majority of men, is the same as saying of some kind of food that it is very good but that most people can't eat it.”

— Leo Tolstoy

Art

“If so many men, so many minds, certainly so many hearts, so many kinds of love.”

— Leo Tolstoy

Love

“In the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you.”

— Leo Tolstoy

God

“All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

— Leo Tolstoy

Family

“The greater the state, the more wrong and cruel its patriotism, and the greater is the sum of suffering upon which its power is founded.”

— Leo Tolstoy

Patriotism

“Even in the valley of the shadow of death, two and two do not make six.”

— Leo Tolstoy

Death

“The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.”

— Leo Tolstoy

Patience

“Our body is a machine for living. It is organized for that, it is its nature. Let life go on in it unhindered and let it defend itself.”

— Leo Tolstoy

Nature

“One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between Man and Nature shall not be broken.”

— Leo Tolstoy

Happiness

“Government is an association of men who do violence to the rest of us.”

— Leo Tolstoy

Government

“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.”

— Leo Tolstoy

Food

“If there existed no external means for dimming their consciences, one-half of the men would at once shoot themselves, because to live contrary to one's reason is a most intolerable state, and all men of our time are in such a state.”

— Leo Tolstoy

Men

“Without knowing what I am and why I am here, life is impossible.”

— Leo Tolstoy

Life

“It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness.”

— Leo Tolstoy

Amazing

“The changes in our life must come from the impossibility to live otherwise than according to the demands of our conscience not from our mental resolution to try a new form of life.”

— Leo Tolstoy

Life

“War is so unjust and ugly that all who wage it must try to stifle the voice of conscience within themselves.”

— Leo Tolstoy

War

“War on the other hand is such a terrible thing, that no man, especially a Christian man, has the right to assume the responsibility of starting it.”

— Leo Tolstoy

War

“There is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness and truth.”

— Leo Tolstoy

Truth

“Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold.”

— Leo Tolstoy

Truth

“In all history there is no war which was not hatched by the governments, the governments alone, independent of the interests of the people, to whom war is always pernicious even when successful.”

— Leo Tolstoy

Alone