WIST Quotations

Tolstoy, Leo -- A Confession, ch. 7 (1882) [tr. Maude (1921)]

Dave — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 13:20:51 +0000

When [ignorance] does not know something, it says that what it does not know is stupid.

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
A Confession, ch. 7 (1882) [tr. Maude (1921)]

Full text.

Tolstoy, Leo -- Anna Karanina, opening words (1876) [tr. Garnett (1930)]

Dave — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:18:18 +0000

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
Anna Karanina, opening words (1876) [tr. Garnett (1930)]

Alt trans.:

"All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
"All happy families resemble one another; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

Tolstoy, Leo -- Pamphlets, “Some Social Remedies,” “Three Methods of Reform” [tr. Free Age Press (1900)]

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

And yet in our world everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself.

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
Pamphlets, “Some Social Remedies,” “Three Methods of Reform” [tr. Free Age Press (1900)]
(Source)

More common variant: "Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."

Tolstoy, Leo -- Path of Life [Calendar of Wisdom; Круг чтения], ch. 21 “Living in the Present,” sec. 5.12 (1903-1911) [(tr. Cote (2002)]

Dave — Mon, 04 May 2026 16:24:58 +0000

Memento mori — remember death! These are important words. If we kept in mind that we will soon inevitably die, our lives would be completely different. If a person knows that he will die in a half hour, he certainly will not bother doing trivial, stupid, or, especially, bad things during this half hour. Perhaps you have half a century before you die — what makes this any different from a half hour?

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
Path of Life [Calendar of Wisdom; Круг чтения], ch. 21 “Living in the Present,” sec. 5.12 (1903-1911) [(tr. Cote (2002)]
(Source)

Tolstoy, Leo -- Path of Life [Calendar of Wisdom; Круг чтения], ch. 21 “Living in the Present,” sec. 6.2 (1903-1911) [(tr. Cote (2002)]

Dave — Mon, 25 May 2026 07:27:36 +0000

If you are able to see all the consequences of what you are doing, then what you are doing is not very important.

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
Path of Life [Calendar of Wisdom; Круг чтения], ch. 21 “Living in the Present,” sec. 6.2 (1903-1911) [(tr. Cote (2002)]
(Source)

Tolstoy, Leo -- The Kingdom of God Is Within You, 12.1 (1893) [tr. Maude (1936)]

Dave — Thu, 19 Sep 2013 12:42:12 +0000

The advantage of the rich over the poor could not and cannot be maintained by anything but violence.

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
The Kingdom of God Is Within You, 12.1 (1893) [tr. Maude (1936)]

Tolstoy, Leo -- The Kingdom of God Is Within You, 12.3 (1893) [tr. Maude (1936)]

Dave — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 12:50:14 +0000

Rulers always try to draw as many citizens as possible into as much participation as possible in the crimes they commit.

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
The Kingdom of God Is Within You, 12.3 (1893) [tr. Maude (1936)]

Tolstoy, Leo -- The Kingdom of God Is Within You, ch. 3 (1894)

Dave — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 19:12:19 +0000

The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him.

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
The Kingdom of God Is Within You, ch. 3 (1894)

Tolstoy, Leo -- The Kingdom of God Is Within You, ch. 6 (1893) [tr. Maude (1936)]

Dave — Thu, 18 Jun 2015 14:54:03 +0000

Slavery was contrary to all the moral principles advocated by Plato and Aristotle, yet neither of them saw this because to renounce slavery would have meant the collapse of the life they were living.

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
The Kingdom of God Is Within You, ch. 6 (1893) [tr. Maude (1936)]

Tolstoy, Leo -- Thoughts and Aphorisms, 13.5 (1886-1893) [tr. Wiener (1905)]

Dave — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 13:44:50 +0000

When a man is unable to understand a thing, he ridicules it.

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
Thoughts and Aphorisms, 13.5 (1886-1893) [tr. Wiener (1905)]

Tolstoy, Leo -- Thoughts and Aphorisms, 8.1 (1886-93) [tr. L. Wiener (1905)]

Dave — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:40:43 +0000

Dissatisfaction is a sign of people who are walking on the road and not standing still.

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
Thoughts and Aphorisms, 8.1 (1886-93) [tr. L. Wiener (1905)]

Tolstoy, Leo -- Tolstoy’s Diaries, Vol. 2 (ed., tr. Christian)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Progress consists, not in the increase of truth, but in freeing it from its wrappings. The truth is obtained like gold, not by letting it grow bigger, but by washing off from it everything that isn’t gold.

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
Tolstoy’s Diaries, Vol. 2 (ed., tr. Christian)

Alt trans: "Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold."

Tolstoy, Leo -- War and Peace, Book 10, ch. 16 (1865-1869)

Dave — Fri, 13 May 2011 11:59:54 +0000

Everything comes in time to him who knows how to wait.

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
War and Peace, Book 10, ch. 16 (1865-1869)

Tolstoy, Leo -- War and Peace, Book 10, ch. 17 (1865-1869)

Dave — Sat, 28 May 2011 05:16:48 +0000

At the approach of danger there are always two voices that 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; the other even more reasonable says that it is too painful and harassing to think of the danger, since it is not a man’s power to provide for everything and escape from the general march of events; and that it is therefore 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.

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
War and Peace, Book 10, ch. 17 (1865-1869)

Tolstoy, Leo -- War and Peace, Book 15, ch. 1 (1865-1869) [tr. Maude/Maude (1952)]

Dave — Mon, 30 May 2011 07:32:56 +0000

But pure and complete sorrow is as impossible as pure and complete joy.

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
War and Peace, Book 15, ch. 1 (1865-1869) [tr. Maude/Maude (1952)]
(Source)

Other translation:

But pure, unmitigated grief is as impossible as pure and unmitigated joy.
[tr. Garnett (1889), Vol 3, Part 4, ch. 1]

Tolstoy, Leo -- War and Peace, Book 4, ch. 11 (1865-1869)

Dave — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 12:53:09 +0000

Seize the moments of happiness, love and be loved! That is the only reality in the world, all else is folly. It is the one thing we are interested in here.

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
War and Peace, Book 4, ch. 11 (1865-1869)

Tolstoy, Leo -- War and Peace, Book 5, ch. 1 (1865-1869)

Dave — Fri, 06 May 2011 12:20:17 +0000

You will die — and it will all be over. You will die and find out everything — or cease asking.

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
War and Peace, Book 5, ch. 1 (1865-1869)

Tolstoy, Leo -- What Is Art? (1896)

Dave — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 14:21:04 +0000

The assertion that art may be good art and at the same time incomprehensible to a great number of people is extremely unjust, and its consequences are ruinous to art itself … it is the same as saying some kind of food is good but most people can’t eat it.

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
What Is Art? (1896)

Tolstoy, Leo -- What Is Art?, ch. 14 (1896)

Dave — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 19:12:18 +0000

I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives.

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
What Is Art?, ch. 14 (1896)

Quoted by Joseph Ford, Chaotic Dynamics and Fractals (1985) [ed. Barnsley and Demko] Alt. trans.: "I know that most men — not only those considered clever, but even those who are very clever and capable of understanding most difficult scientific, mathematical, or philosophic, problems — can seldom discern even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as obliges them to admit the falsity of conclusions they have formed, perhaps with much difficulty — conclusions of which they are proud, which they have taught to others, and on which they have built their lives." [tr. Maude (1930)]

Tolstoy, Leo -- Adapted. In Theodore Roszak, The Making of the Counter Culture, Appendix (1969)

Dave — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 13:49:33 +0000

The difference between reactionary repression and revolutionary repression is the difference between cat shit and dog shit.

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
Adapted. In Theodore Roszak, The Making of the Counter Culture, Appendix (1969)

Tolstoy, Leo -- Diary (1847-03-17)

Dave — Thu, 09 Jul 2015 19:41:12 +0000

It is easier to write ten volumes of philosophy than to put one principle into practice.

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
Diary (1847-03-17)
(Source)

From his earliest diary entry, when he was 18. Variants:

"It is easier to produce ten volumes of philosophical writing than to put one principle into practice."
"It is easier to write ten volumes on theoretical principles than to put one principle into practice."

Tolstoy, Leo -- Letter

Dave — Tue, 03 Mar 2020 22:49:45 +0000

I have found that a story leaves a deeper impression when it is impossible to tell which side the author is on.

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
Letter

Writing to a friend about Anna Karenina, and how he had rewritten a conversation (Part 4, ch. 1) between Levin and the priest four times, to hide which one he favored.

Tolstoy, Leo -- Letter to Nikolay Strakhov (1876)

Dave — Wed, 26 Jan 2022 15:53:32 +0000

Our profession is dreadful, writing corrupts the soul. Every author is surrounded by an aura of adulation which he nurses so assiduously that he cannot begin to judge his own worth or see when it starts to decline.

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
Letter to Nikolay Strakhov (1876)
(Source)

Quoted in Henri Troyat, Tolstoy (1967).