Historians are like deaf people who go on answering questions that no one has asked them.
Leo Tolstoy Quotes
In a writer there must always be two people – the writer and the critic.
Seek among men, from beggar to millionaire, one who is contented with his lot, and you will not find one such in a thousand… Today we must buy an overcoat and galoshes, tomorrow a watch and a chain; the next day we must install ourselves in an apartment with a sofa and a bronze lamp; […]
The understanding of our life in relation to God is the same as our feelings in relation to the world and to other things. Without conscience, we would never know anything about God.
It is harmful to eat if you are not hungry. It is even worse to have sex without desire. But the most harmful is to try to think when you do not wish to do so or to try to be engaged in meaningless intellectual activity. Many people do this when they want to improve […]
Christianity, with its doctrine of humility, of forgiveness, of love, is incompatible with the state, with its haughtiness, its violence, its punishment, its wars.
Joy can be real only if people look upon their life as a service, and have a definite object in life outside themselves and their personal happiness.
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.
Boredom: the desire for desires.
What a strange illusion it is to suppose that beauty is goodness! A beautiful woman utters absurdities: we listen, and we hear not the absurdities but wise thoughts.
