Leo Tolstoy was one of the greatest novelists of the 19th century. He is best known for writing the the acclaimed novels War And Peace, Anna Karenina and The Death of Ivan Ilyich.
Over the years he had written some rather inspirational stuff about happiness, life and love that we all gain some wisdom from. Below I’ve put together 43 of the best Leo Tolstoy quotes to inspire you. Enjoy!
43 Leo Tolstoy Quotes
1. “Without knowing what I am and why I am here, life is impossible.” – Leo Tolstoy
2. “The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.” – Leo Tolstoy
3. “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” – Leo Tolstoy
4. “If you want to be happy, be.” – Leo Tolstoy
5. “Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold.” – Leo Tolstoy
6. “The changes in our life must come from the impossibility to live otherwise than according to the demands of our conscience not from our mental resolution to try a new form of life.” – Leo Tolstoy
7. “The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity.” – Leo Tolstoy
8. “An arrogant person considers himself perfect. This is the chief harm of arrogance. It interferes with a person’s main task in life – becoming a better person.” – Leo Tolstoy
9. “Joy can only be real if people look upon their life as a service and have a definite object in life outside themselves and their personal happiness.” – Leo Tolstoy
10. “We lost because we told ourselves we lost.” – Leo Tolstoy
11. “Faith is the sense of life, that sense by virtue of which man does not destroy himself, but continues to live on. It is the force whereby we live.” – Leo Tolstoy
12. “If you look for perfection, you’ll never be content.” – Leo Tolstoy
13. “If, then, I were asked for the most important advice I could give, that which I considered to be the most useful to the men of our century, I should simply say: in the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you.” – Leo Tolstoy
14. “We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom.” – Leo Tolstoy
15. “When you love someone, you love the person as they are, and not as you’d like them to be.” – Leo Tolstoy
16. “Nothing is so necessary for a young man as the company of intelligent women.” – Leo Tolstoy
17. “Freethinkers are those who are willing to use their minds without prejudice and without fearing to understand things that clash with their own customs, privileges, or beliefs. This state of mind is not common, but it is essential for right thinking…” – Leo Tolstoy
18. “Anything is better than lies and deceit!” – Leo Tolstoy
19. “Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it.” – Leo Tolstoy
20. “There is something in the human spirit that will survive and prevail, there is a tiny and brilliant light burning in the heart of man that will not go out no matter how dark the world becomes.” – Leo Tolstoy
21. “Just as one candle lights another and can light thousands of other candles, so one heart illuminates another heart and can illuminate thousands of other hearts.” – Leo Tolstoy
22. “Life could be limitless joy, if we would only take it for what it is, in the way it is given to us.” – Leo Tolstoy
23. “A truly wise man is always joyful.” – Leo Tolstoy
24. “Pay bad people with your goodness; fight their hatred with you kindness. Even if you do not achieve victory over other people, you will conquer yourself.” – Leo Tolstoy
25. “One can live magnificently in this world if one knows how to work and how to love.” – Leo Tolstoy
26. “Seize the moments of happiness, love and be loved! That is the only reality in the world, all else is folly. It is the one thing we are interested in here.” – Leo Tolstoy
27. “You see, if you take pains and learn in order to get a reward, the work will seem hard; but when you work… if you love your work, you will find your reward in that.” – Leo Tolstoy
28. “Happiness does not depend on outward things, but on the way we see them.” – Leo Tolstoy
29. “There is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness and truth.” – Leo Tolstoy
30. “A man is like a fraction whose numerator is what he is and whose denominator is what he thinks of himself. The larger the denominator the smaller the fraction.” – Leo Tolstoy
31. “The most important knowledge is that which guides the way you lead your life.” – Leo Tolstoy
32. “The greatest truths are simple.” – Leo Tolstoy
33. “There is only one time that is important — Now! It is the most important time because it is the only time when we have any power.” – Leo Tolstoy
34. “There are no conditions to which a person cannot grow accustomed, especially if he sees that everyone around him lives in the same way.” – Leo Tolstoy
35. “Let us forgive each other – only then will we live in peace.” – Leo Tolstoy
36. “Each person’s task in life is to become an increasingly better person.” – Leo Tolstoy
37. “The surest sign of the truth is simplicity and clarity. Lie is always complicated, pretentious and wordy.” – Leo Tolstoy
38. “Have a goal in life. A goal for a certain time, for a year, for a month, for a week, for a day or for an hour and for a minute, sacrificing lower goals to highest.” – Leo Tolstoy
39. “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.” – Leo Tolstoy
40. “It’s much better to do good in a way that no one knows anything about it.” – Leo Tolstoy
41. “Faith is the strength of life. If a man lives he believes In something.” – Leo Tolstoy
42. “I am always with myself and it is I who am my tormentor.” – Leo Tolstoy
43. “Man cannot possess anything as long as he fears death. But to him who does not fear it, everything belongs. If there was no suffering, man would not know his limits, would not know himself.” – Leo Tolstoy
Did you find these Leo Tolstoy Quotes inspiring?
If you liked these Leo Tolstoy quotes then please share this post to help inspire others.
