Works By Leo Tolstoy

"People strive in this world, not for those things which are truly good, but for the possession of many things which they call their property."

"The court jury has, as it’s raison d’être, the task of preserving society as it exists now, and therefore, it persecutes and executes those who stand higher than the general level of society."

"Very often, all the activity of the human mind is directed not in revealing the truth, but in hiding the truth."

"The growth of your desires is not the way to perfection, as many people think. To the contrary, the more a person limits himself, the better he can understand his human dignity, and the more free, the more brave he becomes."

"To be a person with high morals is to be a person with a liberated soul."

"Your understanding of your inner self holds the meaning of your life."

"It only seems that people are busy with trade, with making agreements, negotiations and wars, science and the arts. There is in fact only one thing which people do; this is to search for the understanding of the moral law by which they live. And this understanding is not only the most important but the only real concern for all humankind."

"The quality of a really virtuous person is to be unknown to people, or misunderstood by people, but not to be disappointed by this."

"Fear nobody and nothing. That which is the most precious matter in you can be damaged by no one and by nothing."

"Only the truth which was acquired by your own thinking, through the efforts of your intellect, becomes a member of your own body, and only this truth really belongs to us."

"A wise man sets requirements only for himself; an unwise man makes requirements for others."

"I can send my thoughts to many different people at once; they will cross the seas and they will go to different lands if there is God’s will, and the power of love and wisdom. My thoughts by themselves are a spiritual power; they can exist at the same time in thousands of places. My body, however, can only exist at one place at one time."

"In the long run, there is only one subject worthy of study, and this is the different forms of transformation of the spirit. All other subjects and studies can be brought to these basic things."

"A person who tries to find good outside himself, wither in this life or in the one to come, is making a mistake."

"Every person has only one purpose: to find perfection in goodness. Therefore, only that knowledge is necessary which leads to this."

"Clever people study in order to know more. Undeserving people study in order to be more known."

"He who sees his life as a process of spiritual perfection does not fear external events."

"If you do not know your place in the world and the meaning of your life, you should know there is something to blame; and it is not the social system, or your intellect, but the way in which you have directed your intellect."

"It seems that it is impossible to live without discovering the purpose of your life. And the first thing which a person should do is to understand the meaning of life. But the majority of people who consider themselves to be educated are proud that they have reached such great height that they cease to care about the meaning of existence."

"A bad mood is often the reason for blaming others; but very often blaming others causes bad feelings in us: the more we blame others, the worse we feel."

"Every great thing is done in a quiet, humble, simple way— ... you cannot do such things when there are thunder and lightning around you. Great and true things are always simple and humble."

"Most of our spending is done to forward our efforts to look like others."

"Give thanks to God, who made necessary things simple, and complicated things unnecessary."

"The worst mistake which was ever made in this world was the separation of political science from ethics."

"In the same way as you cannot work with bees without being cautious, you cannot work with people without being mindful of their humanity."

"It is a mistake to think that there are times when you can safely address a person without love."

"What is important is not the quantity of your knowledge, but its quality. You can know many things without knowing that which is most important."

"We live in this world like a child who enters a room where a clever person is speaking. The child did not hear the beginning of the speech, and he leaves before the end; and there are certain things which he hears but does not understand."

"One can deny Christ in various ways: one can blaspheme rudely, or mock his greatness. But such ways are not dangerous. ... But there is another way to deny Christ: this is when you call Him your master and you claim to follow His commandments, but you suppress any free thought by quoting his words, and disguise all stupidities, all mistakes, and all sins of the people in his name. This second way is the truly dangerous one."

"When we treat our neighbors as they deserve to be treated, we make them even worse; when we treat them as if they were who we wish they were, we improve them."

"People involve themselves in countless activities which they consider to be important, but they forget about one activity which is more important and necessary than any other, and which includes all other things: the improvement of their soul."

"When joy disappears, look for your mistake."

"A truly wise man is always joyful."

"Life could be limitless joy, if we would only take it for what it is, in the way it is given to us."

"Spiritual effort and the joy that comes from understanding life go hand in hand like physical exertion and rest. Without physical exertion, there is no joy in rest; without spiritual effort, there can be no joyful understanding of life."

"Science can be divided into an infinite number of disciplines, and the amount of knowledge that can be pursued in each discipline is limitless. The most critical piece of knowledge, then, is the knowledge of what is essential to learn and what isn’t."

"When you are in company, do not forget what you have found out when you were thinking in solitude; and when you are meditating in solitude, think about what you found out by communicating with other people."

"If you want to correct your own failings, you do not have the time to waste in blaming other people."

"A person who knows little likes to talk, and one who knows much mostly keeps silent. This is because a person who knows little thinks that everything he knows is important, and wants to tell everyone. A person who knows much also knows that there is much more he doesn’t know. That’s why he speaks only when it is necessary to speak, and when he is not asked questions, he keeps his silence."

"Real wisdom is not the knowledge of everything, but the knowledge of which things in life are necessary, which are less necessary, and which are completely unnecessary to know. Among the most necessary knowledge is the knowledge of how to live well. ... At present, people study useless sciences, but forget to study this, the most important knowledge."

"If a man does not work at necessary and good things, then he will work at unnecessary and stupid things."

"In order to change the nature of things, either within yourself or in others, one should change, not the events, but those thoughts which created whose events."