The teaching of the church, theoretically astute, is a lie in practice and a compound of vulgar superstitions and sorcery.
Leo TolstoyThe appreciation of the merits of art (of the emotions it conveys) depends upon an understanding of the meaning of life...
Leo TolstoyHe felt that all his hitherto dissipated and dispersed forces were gathered and directed with terrible energy towards one blissful goal.
Leo TolstoyAlways the same. Now a spark of hope flashes up, then a sea of despair rages, and always pain; always pain, always despair, and always the same.
Leo TolstoyPeople look like rivers very much: water is everywhere the same, but the rivers are narrow, fast, wide, pure, cold, muddy and warm. The people are the same. They have the rudiment of every human habit in them and they behave according to them. Sometimes they even do not look like themselves, but they still stay whatever they are.
Leo Tolstoy