But that had been grief — this was joy. Yet that grief and … - Leo Tolstoy

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But that had been grief — this was joy. Yet that grief and this joy were alike outside all the ordinary conditions of life; they were loopholes, as it were, in that ordinary life through which there came glimpses of something sublime. And in the contemplation of this sublime something the soul was exalted to inconceivable heights of which it had before had no conception, while reason lagged behind, unable to keep up with it.

Leo Tolstoy

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About Leo Tolstoy

Lev Nikolayevitch Tolstoy [Ле́в Никола́евич Толсто́й, usually rendered Leo Tolstoy, or sometimes Tolstoi] (9 September 1828 – 20 November 1910) was a Russian writer, philosopher and social activist (social critic), whose novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina are internationally praised classics of world literature. He was a major influence on the development of Christian anarchism and pacifism, contributing to such nonviolent resistance movements as those of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and James Bevel.

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Also Known As

Pen Names: Л. Н. Т. • Л. Н.

Birth Name: Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy

Native Name: Лев Никола́евич Толсто́й

Alternative Names: Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy • Tolstoy, Leo, graf, 1828-1910 • Tolstoĭ, Lev Nikolaevich, graf, 1828-1910 • Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoĭ • Leo Tolstoi • Tolstoĭ, Lev Nikolaevich, graf • Tolstoy, Leo, graf

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Albert Camus William Somerset Maugham Fyodor Dostoyevsky Anton Chekhov Friedrich Nietzsche

Additional quotes by Leo Tolstoy

There is a scale of virtues, and it is necessary, if one would mount the higher steps, to begin with the lowest; and the first virtue a man must acquire if he wishes to acquire the others, is that which the ancients called ἐγκράτεια or σωφροσύνη — i.e., self-control or moderation.

Who is right and who is wrong? No one! But if you are alive — live: tomorrow you’ll die as I might have died an hour ago. And is it worth tormenting oneself, when one has only a moment of life in comparison with eternity?

We imagine that when we are thrown out of our usual ruts all is lost, but it is only then that what is new and good begins. While there is life there is happiness. There is much, much before us.

But that had been grief — this was joy. Yet that grief and this joy were alike outside all the ordinary conditions of life; they were loopholes, as i… - Leo Tolstoy

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