Persistent and undiscerning almost to the point of criminality as far as resources were concerned, this woman <nowiki>[</nowiki>Sophia Tolstaya] was … - Victor Lebrun

Nature is like a woman worthy of being placed on a pedestal. In order fully to understand and appreciate her, it is necessary to live with her a long time in intimate proximity.

A genius, an eighty-two year-old thinker and author, loved and respected by the whole world, having to flee like a criminal from his own home! To flee from the bottomless abyss created between persons having dissimilar guiding instincts! Through the cold impenetrable autumn night, Tolstoy ran alone to the nearest stable through the large apple orchard. And behind him, the terrifying specter of being caught and again made to drown in the insufferable surroundings in which he had been suffocated for all of thirty years! Before him, finally, lay moral freedom, so long and so earnestly awaited! Finally, the possibility, though not for long, though only until death, of relief from the pressures on his mind! The possibility of carrying out his much revered duty before his conscience and before toiling humankind! He had been hindered in life. Now he can at last succeed in dying with dignity.

The fate of all founders of moral and religious schools did not escape Tolstoy. He had three types of disciples: those of one type looked after their own internal improvement and had, so to say, a poor opinion of all practical actions. They are the followers of the letter of the law. Very rarely does one encounter persons like this among Tolstoyans. Those of another type left their studies or privileged situations and went to live among the people, maintaining themselves by farming or the trades. They are the men of goodwill on humankind's labor front. Those of the third and final type do not reject their special skills, through which they serve the people and true progress. They are the friends of the people.