Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, usually referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer who is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time. Profoundly inspirational Leo Tolstoy quotes will challenge the way you think, and help guide you through any life experience.
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Famous Leo Tolstoy Quotes
A man is like a fraction whose numerator is what he is and whose denominator is what he thinks of himself. The larger the denominator the smaller the fraction. Leo Tolstoy
Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. Leo Tolstoy
All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. Leo Tolstoy
Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it. Leo Tolstoy.
Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. Leo Tolstoy
If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war. Leo Tolstoy
I think if it is true that there are as many minds as there are heads, then there are as many kinds of love as there are hearts. Leo Tolstoy
In the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you. Leo Tolstoy
If, then, I were asked for the most important advice I could give, that which I considered to be the most useful to the men of our century, I should simply say: in the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you. Leo Tolstoy
I often think that men don’t understand what is noble and what is ignorant, though they always talk about it. Leo Tolstoy
Just as one candle lights another and can light thousands of other candles, so one heart illuminates another heart and can illuminate thousands of other hearts. Leo Tolstoy
The two most powerful warriors are patience and time. Leo Tolstoy
Only people who are capable of loving strongly can also suffer great sorrow, but this same necessity of loving serves to counteract their grief and heals them. Leo Tolstoy
If you look for perfection, you’ll never be content. Leo Tolstoy
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
If you’re not enjoying your work, you should either change your attitude or change your job. Leo Tolstoy
The only thing that we know is that we know nothing and that is the highest flight of human wisdom. Leo Tolstoy
A truly wise man is always joyful. Leo Tolstoy
True life is lived when tiny changes occur. Leo Tolstoy
The only thing that we know is that we know nothing and that is the highest flight of human wisdom. Leo Tolstoy
Without knowing what I am and why I am here, life is impossible. Leo Tolstoy
It’s much better to do good in a way that no one knows anything about it. Leo Tolstoy
A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one’s neighbor such is my idea of happiness. Leo Tolstoy
It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness. Leo Tolstoy
And all people live, Not by reason of any care they have for themselves, But by the love for them that is in other people. Leo Tolstoy
Rummaging in our souls, we often dig up something that ought to have lain there unnoticed. Leo Tolstoy
Freethinkers are those who are willing to use their minds without prejudice and without fearing to understand things that clash with their own customs, privileges, or beliefs. This state of mind is not common, but it is essential for right thinking Leo Tolstoy
Spring is the time of plans and projects. Leo Tolstoy
I’ve always loved you, and when you love someone, you love the whole person, just as he or she is, and not as you would like them to be. Leo Tolstoy
If you want to be happy, be. Leo Tolstoy
In the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you. Leo Tolstoy
There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth. Leo Tolstoy
Life could be limitless joy, if we would only take it for what it is, in the way it is given to us. Leo Tolstoy
There are no conditions to which a person cannot grow accustomed, especially if he sees that everyone around him lives in the same way. Leo Tolstoy
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
Something magical has happened to me: like a dream when one feels frightened and creepy, and suddenly wakes up to the knowledge that no such terrors exist. I have woken up. Leo Tolstoy
Some mathematician said: ‘Pleasure lies not in discovering truth, but in seeking it. Leo Tolstoy
If we admit that human life can be ruled by reason, then all possibility of life is destroyed. Leo Tolstoy
The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity. Leo Tolstoy
If there was no suffering, man would not know his limits, would not know himself. Leo Tolstoy
Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold. Leo Tolstoy
And you know, there’s less charm in life when you think about death–but it’s more peaceful. Leo Tolstoy
Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it. Leo Tolstoy
A truly wise man is always joyful. Leo Tolstoy
Love. The reason I dislike that word is that it means too much for me, far more than you can understand. Leo Tolstoy
Anything is better than lies and deceit! Leo Tolstoy
But the law of loving others could not be discovered by reason, because it is unreasonable. Leo Tolstoy
Happiness does not depend on outward things, but on the way we see them. Leo Tolstoy
All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. Leo Tolstoy
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
Respect was invented to cover the empty place where love should be. Leo Tolstoy
Is it really possible to tell someone else what one feels? Leo Tolstoy
Nothing is so necessary for a young man as the company of intelligent women. Leo Tolstoy
I have learnt that all men live not by care for themselves, but by love. Leo Tolstoy
Pay bad people with your goodness; fight their hatred with you kindness. Even if you do not achieve victory over other people, you will conquer yourself. Leo Tolstoy
Rest, nature, books, music, love for one’s neighbor such is my idea of happiness. Leo Tolstoy
Spring is the time of plans and projects. Leo Tolstoy
Happiness does not depend on outward things, but on the way we see them. Leo Tolstoy
The two most powerful warriors are patience and time. Leo Tolstoy
I wanted feeling to guide us in life, and not life to be the guide to feeling. Leo Tolstoy
We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom. Leo Tolstoy
All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Leo Tolstoy
All happy families resemble one another; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Leo Tolstoy
I felt a wish never to leave that room a wish that dawn might never come, that my present frame of mind might never change. Leo Tolstoy
Be bad, but at least don’t be a liar, a deceiver! Leo Tolstoy
I longed for activity instead of an even flow of existence. Leo Tolstoy
He stepped down, trying not to look long at her, as if she were the sun, yet he saw her, like the sun, even without looking. Leo Tolstoy
True life is lived when tiny changes occur. Leo Tolstoy
If you look for perfection, you’ll never be content. Leo Tolstoy
Freethinkers are those who are willing to use their minds without prejudice and without fearing to understand things that clash with their own customs, privileges, or beliefs. This state of mind is not common, but it is essential for right thinking. Leo Tolstoy
It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness. Leo Tolstoy
One can live magnificently in this world if one knows how to work and how to love. Leo Tolstoy
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
Respect was invented to cover the empty place where love should be. Leo Tolstoy
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
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
If you make it a habit not to blame others, you will feel the growth of the ability to love in your soul, and you will see the growth of goodness in your life. Leo Tolstoy
There is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness and truth. Leo Tolstoy
To love life is to love God. Harder and more blessed than all else is to love this life in one’s sufferings, in undeserved sufferings. Leo Tolstoy
We lost because we told ourselves we lost. Leo Tolstoy
Seize the moments of happiness, love and be loved! That is the only reality in the world, all else is folly. Leo Tolstoy
All the variety, all the charm, all the beauty of life is made up of light and shadow. Leo Tolstoy
Joy can only be real if people look upon their life as a service and have a definite object in life outside themselves and their personal happiness. Leo Tolstoy
I sit on a man’s back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by all possible means except by getting off his back. Leo Tolstoy
They’ve got no idea what happiness is, they don’t know that without this love there is no happiness or unhappiness for us there is no life. Leo Tolstoy
If you want to be happy, be. Leo Tolstoy
An arrogant person considers himself perfect. This is the chief harm of arrogance. It interferes with a person’s main task in life becoming a better person. Leo Tolstoy
Joy can only be real if people look upon their life as a service and have a definite object in life outside themselves and their personal happiness. Leo Tolstoy
One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between Man and Nature shall not be broken. Leo Tolstoy
There is only one enduring happiness in life to live for others. Leo Tolstoy
Rummaging in our souls, we often dig up something that ought to have lain there unnoticed. Leo Tolstoy
One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between Man and Nature shall not be broken. Leo Tolstoy
The most important knowledge is that which guides the way you lead your life. Leo Tolstoy
The law condemns and punishes only actions within certain definite and narrow limits; it thereby justifies, in a way, all similar actions that lie outside those limits. Leo Tolstoy
