"One ought only to write when one leaves a piece of one's own flesh in the inkpot, each time one dips one's pen."
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Quote collection
Leo Tolstoy quotes (page 9 of 42)
824 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"Am I mad, to see what others do not see, or are they mad who are responsible for all that I am seeing?"
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"By words one transmits thoughts to another, by means of art, one transmits feelings."
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"One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between Man and Nature shall not be broken."
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"Love does not exist. There exists the physical need for intercourse, and the rational need for a mate in life"
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"I must write each day without fail, not so much for the success of the work, as in order not to get out of my routine."
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"Death destroys the body, as the scaffolding is destroyed after the building is up and finished. And he whose building is up rejoices at the destruction of the scaffolding and of the body."
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"As soon as men live entirely in accord with the law of love natural to their hearts and now revealed to them, which excludes all resistance by violence, and therefore hold aloof from all participation in violence - as soon as this happens, not only will hundreds be unable to enslave millions, but not even millions will be able to enslave a single individual."
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"Much unhappiness has come from things left unsaid"
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"To get rid of an enemy one must love him."
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"Where there is a man who does not labor because another is compelled to work for him, there slavery is."
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"It is by those who have suffered that the world has been advanced."
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"Man must not check his reason by tradition, but, contrariwise, must check tradition by reason."
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"Good fiction doesn't come out of the basic conflict of good versus bad. Instead, it comes out of a conflict between good and good."
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"The best stories don't come from "good vs. bad" but "good vs. good."
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"They ought to find out how to vaccinate for love, like smallpox."
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"Science is meaningless because it gives no answer to our question, the only question important for us: 'What shall we do and how shall we live?'"
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"If you look for perfection, you'll never be content."
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"Human love serves to love those dear to us but to love one's enemies we need divine love."
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"The essence of all slavery consists in taking the product of another's labor by force. It is immaterial whether this force be founded upon ownership of the slave or ownership of the money that he must get to live."
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