Where is the man who has the strength to be true, and to show himself as he is? - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A flippant, frivolous man may ridicule others, may controvert them, scorn them; but he who has any respect for himself seems to have renounced the right of thinking meanly of others. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
If there existed no external means for dimming their consciences, one-half of the men would at once shoot themselves, because to live contrary to one's reason is a most intolerable state, and all men of our time are in such a state. - Leo Tolstoy
Historians are like deaf people who go on answering questions that no one has asked them. - Leo Tolstoy
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. - Leo Tolstoy
In all history there is no war which was not hatched by the governments, the governments alone, independent of the interests of the people, to whom war is always pernicious even when successful. - Leo Tolstoy
Only people who are capable of loving strongly can also suffer great sorrow, but this same necessity of loving serves to counteract their grief and heals them. - Leo Tolstoy
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
Self-conceit is a sentiment entirely incompatible with genuine sorrow, and it is so firmly engrafted on human nature that even the most profound sorrow can seldom expel it altogether. - Leo Tolstoy
One may deal with things without love but you cannot deal with men without it. It cannot be otherwise, because natural love is the fundamental law of human life. - Leo Tolstoy
Error is the force that welds men together; truth is communicated to men only by deeds of truth. - Leo Tolstoy
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
I don't need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.
Not by lamentations and mournful chants ought we to celebrate the funeral of a good man, but by hymns, for in ceasing to be numbered with mortals he enters upon the heritage of a diviner life.
Moral habits, induced by public practices, are far quicker in making their way into men's private lives, than the failings and faults of individuals are in infecting the city at large.
The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits.
To be ignorant of the lives of the most celebrated men of antiquity is to continue in a state of childhood all our days.
We ought not to treat living creatures like shoes or household belongings, which when worn with use we throw away.
Connect with
Login with Facebook