Leo Tolstoy

I have learned what must be, and therefore have come to see the whole horror of what is.

Leo Tolstoy

I love her not with my mind or my imagination, but with my whole being. Loving her I feel myself to be an integral part of all God’s joyous world.

Leo Tolstoy

I must have physical exercise, or my temper’ll certainly be ruined.

Leo Tolstoy

I wanted to run after him, but remembered that it is ridiculous to run after one’s wife’s lover in one’s socks; and I did not wish to be ridiculous but terrible.

Leo Tolstoy

I was now prepared to accept any faith so long as it did not demand a direct denial of reason, which would have been a deceit.

Leo Tolstoy

I’d rather end up wishing I hadn’t than end up wishing I had.

Leo Tolstoy

If every man could act as he chose, the whole of history would be a tissue of disconnected accidents.

Leo Tolstoy

If goodness has causes, it is not goodness; if it has effects, a reward, it is not goodness either. So goodness is outside the chain of cause and effect.

Leo Tolstoy

If once we admit, be it for a single hour or in a single instance, that there can be anything more important than compassion for a fellow human being, then there is no crime against man that we cannot commit with an easy conscience.

Leo Tolstoy

If one has no vanity in this life of ours, there is no sufficient reason for living.

Leo Tolstoy