Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy Quotes

#1. If he had a reason for preferring Liberalism to the Conservatism of many in his set, it was not that he considered Liberalism more reasonable, but because it suited his manner of life better.

Leo Tolstoy

#2. Blessed are the peacemakers; theirs is the kingdom of heaven

Leo Tolstoy

#3. He looked at her as a man might look at a faded flower he had plucked, in which it was difficult for him to trace the beauty that had made him pick and so destroy it

Leo Tolstoy

#4. But every acquisition that is disproportionate to the labor spent on it is dishonest.

Leo Tolstoy

#5. Just think! This whole world of ours is only a speck of mildew sprung up on a tiny planet, yet we think we can have something great - thoughts,, actions! They are all but grains of sand

Leo Tolstoy

#6. Oblonsy was fond of a pleasant joke, and sometimes liked to perplex a simple-minded man by observing that if you're going to be proud of your ancestry, why stop short at Prince Rurik and repudiate your oldest ancestor - the ape?

Leo Tolstoy

#7. But that's the whole aim of civilization: to make everything a source of enjoyment.

Leo Tolstoy

#8. He knew she was there by the joy and terror that took possession of his heart [ ... ] Everything was lit up by her. She was the smile that brightened everything around.

Leo Tolstoy

#9. Every drama requires a cast. The cast may be so huge, as in Leo Tolstoy's 'Anna Karenina,' that the author or editor provides a list of characters to keep them straight. Or it may be an intimate cast of two.

Nancy Kress

#10. Art is bad when 'you see the intent and get put off.' (Goethe) In Tolstoy one is unaware of the intent, and sees only the thing itself.
from the book, On Retranslating A Russian Classic Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Joel Carmichael

#11. An artist must know the reality he is depicting in its minutest detail. In my opinion we have only one shining example of that - Count Leo Tolstoy.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

#12. All the diversity, all the charm, and all the beauty of life are made up of light and shade.

Leo Tolstoy

#13. It's much better to do good in a way that no one knows anything about it.

Leo Tolstoy

#14. The aim of civilization is to enable us to get enjoyment out of everything.

Leo Tolstoy