Art is a human activity consisting in this, that one man consciously, by means of certain external signs, hands on to others feelings he has lived through, and that other people are infected by these feelings, and also experience them.
Leo TolstoyFrom the self-confidence with which he spoke no one could tell whether what he said was very clever or very stupid.
Leo TolstoyMan by violating his own feelings becomes cruel. And how deeply seated in the human heart is the injunction not to take life.
Leo TolstoyCan it be that I have overlooked something, that there is something which I have failed to understand? Is it not possible that this state of despair is common to everyone?
Leo TolstoyWhat counts in making a happy marriage is not so much how compatible you are but how you deal with incompatibility.
Leo TolstoyNowadays, as before, the public declaration and confession of Orthodoxy is usually encountered among dull-witted, cruel and immoral people who tend to consider themselves very important. Whereas intelligence, honesty, straightforwardness, good-naturedness and morality are qualities usually found among people who claim to be non-believers.
Leo Tolstoy