Leo Tolstoy

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. Wikipedia

• Born: September 9, 1828, Yasnaya Polyana, Russia

• Died: November 20, 1910, Astapovo, Ranenburgsky Uyezd, Ryazan Governorate, Russian Empire

• Spouse: Sophia Tolstoya (m. 1862-1910)

• Parents: Sergei Tolstoy

• Children: Alexandra Tolstoya, Tatiana Sukhotina-Tolstoya

• Education: Kazan Federal University

• Important works: Anna Karenina, Money, War and Peace, War and Peace

• Written: Anna Karenina, War and Peace, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, The Kingdom of God Is Within You, Resurrection, Hadji Murád, The Kreutzer Sonata, A Confession, The Cossacks, Sevastopol Sketches, Family Happiness, Childhood, The Gospel in Brief, Ivan the Fool (story), Boyhood, The Forged Coupon, Youth

Great Thoughts Of Tolstoy

"Seize the moments of happiness, love and be loved! That is the only reality in the world, all else is folly."

"Once we're thrown off our habitual paths, we think all is lost, but it's only here that the new and the good begins."

"Rest, nature, books, music...such is my idea of happiness."

"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?"

"In order to get the power and retain it, it is necessary to love power; but love of power is not connected with goodness, but with qualities which are the opposite of goodness, such as pride, cunning, cruelty."

"Man recognizes that he will not die, only when he recognizes that he was never born, but always has been, is, and will be."

"If you look for perfection, you'll never be content."

"To sin is a human business, to justify sins is a devilish business."

"...so remember: great achievements take time, there is no overnight success."

"I have to create a circle of reading for myself: Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Lao-Tzu, Buddha, Pascal, The New Testament. This is also necessary for all people."

"Muhammad has always been standing higher than the Christianity. He does not consider god as a human being and never makes himself equal to God. Muslims worship nothing except God and Muhammad is his Messenger. There is no any mystery and secret in it."

"I believe that order is better than chaos, creation better than destruction. I prefer gentleness to violence, forgiveness to vendetta. On the whole I think knowledge is preferable to ignorance, and I am sure human sympathy is more valuable than ideology."

"Love is life. All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. Everything is, everything exists, only because I love. Everything is united by it alone. Love is God, and to die means that I, a particle of love, shall return to the general and eternal source."

"The Christian churches and Christianity have nothing in common save in name: they are utterly hostile opposites. The churches are arrogance, violence, usurpation, rigidity, death; Christianity is humility, penitence, submissiveness, progress, life."

"Art lifts man from his personal life into the universal life."

"It is terrible when people do not know God, but it is worse when people identify as God what is not God."