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."

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

— Leo Tolstoy

Happiness

All Quotes by Leo Tolstoy

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

— Leo Tolstoy

Patience

“All violence consists in some people forcing others, under threat of suffering or death, to do what they do not want to do.”

— Leo Tolstoy

Death

“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

“Art is not a handicraft, it is the transmission of feeling the artist has experienced.”

— Leo Tolstoy

Art

“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

“Music is the shorthand of emotion.”

— Leo Tolstoy

Music

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

— Leo Tolstoy

God

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

— Leo Tolstoy

Happiness

“The chief difference between words and deeds is that words are always intended for men for their approbation, but deeds can be done only for God.”

— Leo Tolstoy

God

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

— Leo Tolstoy

Change

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

— Leo Tolstoy

Government

“Faith is the sense of life, that sense by virtue of which man does not destroy himself, but continues to live on. It is the force whereby we live.”

— Leo Tolstoy

Faith

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

— Leo Tolstoy

Family

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

— Leo Tolstoy

Life

“If you want to be happy, be.”

— Leo Tolstoy

Happiness

“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

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

— Leo Tolstoy

Amazing

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

— Leo Tolstoy

Truth

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

— Leo Tolstoy

War

“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