Leo Tolstoy quotes - page 22

There lay between them, separating them, that same terrible line of the unknown and of fear, like the line separating the living from the dead. (Leo Tolstoy)
He remembered his mother's love for him, and his family's, and his friends', and the enemy's intention to kill him seemed impossible. View quote
Leo Tolstoy
Her maternal instinct told her Natasha had too much of something, and because of this she would not be happy. View quote
Leo Tolstoy
At that instant he knew that all his doubts, even the impossibility of believing with his reason, of which he was aware in himself, did not in the least hinder his turning to God. All of that now floated out of his soul like dust. To whom was he to turn if not to Him in whose hands he felt himself, his soul, and his love? View quote
Leo Tolstoy
I do value my work awfully; but in reality only consider this: all this world of ours is nothing but a speck of mildew, which has grown up on a tiny planet. And for us to suppose we can have something great - ideas, work - it's all dust and ashes. View quote
Leo Tolstoy
I'll tell you truly: I value my thought and work terribly, but in essence - think about it - this whole world of ours is just a bit of mildew that grew over a tiny planet. And we think we can have something great - thoughts, deeds! They're all grains of sand. View quote
Leo Tolstoy
These loaves, pigeons, and two little boys seemed unearthly. It all happened at the same time: a little boy ran over to a pigeon, glancing over at Levin with a smile; the pigeon flapped its wings and fluttered, gleaming in the sunshine among the snowdust quivering in the air, while the smell of freshly baked bread was wafted out of a little window as the loaves were put out. All this together was so extraordinarily wonderful that Levin burst out laughing and crying for joy. View quote
Leo Tolstoy
The subject of history is the life of peoples and mankind. View quote
Leo Tolstoy
She was in that highly-wrought state when the reasoning powers act with great rapidity: the state a man is in before a battle or a struggle, in danger, and at the decisive moments of life - those moments when a man shows once and for all what he is worth, that his past was not lived in vain but was a preparation for these moments. View quote
Leo Tolstoy
Why nowadays there's a new fashion every day. View quote
Leo Tolstoy
He is not apprehended by reason, but by life. (Leo Tolstoy)
There are people who, on meeting a successful rival, no matter in what, are at once disposed to turn their backs on everything good in him, and to see only what is bad. There are people, on the other hand, who desire above all to find in that lucky rival the qualities by which he has outstripped them, and seek with a throbbing ache at heart only what is good. View quote
Leo Tolstoy
The march of humanity, springing as it does from an infinite multitude of individual wills, is continuous. View quote
Leo Tolstoy
A wife's a worry, a non-wife's even worse. View quote
Leo Tolstoy
An agile but unintelligent and abnormal German, possessed of the mania of grandeur. View quote
Leo Tolstoy
What is reason given me for, if I am not to use it to avoid bringing unhappy beings into the world! View quote
Leo Tolstoy
The question of how things will settle down is the only important question... View quote
Leo Tolstoy
One must do one of two tings: either admit that the existing order of society is just, and then stick up for one's rights in it;or acknowledge that you are enjoying unjust privileges, as i do, and then enjoy them and be satisfied. View quote
Leo Tolstoy
In spite of death, he felt the need of life and love. He felt that love saved him from despair, and that this love, under the menace of despair, had become still stronger and purer. The one mystery of death, still unsolved, had scarcely passed before his eyes, when another mystery had arisen, as insoluble, urging him to love and to life. View quote
Leo Tolstoy
Each man lives for himself, uses his freedom to achieve his personal goals, and feels with his whole being that right now he can or cannot do such-and-such an action; but as soon as he does it, this action, committed at a certain moment in time, becomes irreversible, and makes itself the property of history, in which is has not a free but a predestined significance. View quote
Leo Tolstoy
Levin scowled. The humiliation of his rejection stung him to the heart, as though it were a fresh wound he had only just received. But he was at home, and at home the very walls are a support. (Leo Tolstoy)
Stepan Arkadyevitch had not chosen his political opinions or his views; these political opinions and views had come to him of themselves, just as he did not choose the shapes of his hat and coat, but simply took those that were being worn. View quote
Leo Tolstoy
And the light by which she had read the book filled with troubles, falsehoods, sorrow, and evil, flared up more brightly than ever before, lighted up for her all that had been in darkness, flickered, began to grow dim, and was quenched forever. View quote
Leo Tolstoy
As often happens between men who have chosen different pursuits, each, while in argument justifying the other's activity, despised it in the depth of his heart. View quote
Leo Tolstoy
At moments of departure and a change of life, people capable of reflecting on their actions usually get into a serious state of mind. At these moments they usually take stock of the past and make plans for the future. View quote
Leo Tolstoy