Leo Tolstoy Quotes on Truth
Truth was for the later Tolstoy a practical and moral demand rather than an abstract ideal, and the quotes gathered here express that demand. He insisted that truth is independent of numbers, for wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it, and that it is conveyed not by argument but by conduct, since truth is communicated to men only by deeds of truth. In his analysis, error is the cohesive force that binds people into unjust collective arrangements, and only individual acts of truthfulness can dissolve it. The remedy Tolstoy proposed was startlingly simple and exacting: it is only needful not to lie. Drawn from My Religion, The Kingdom of God Is Within You, and the novels, these passages show truth as something to be lived rather than merely known.
Quotes
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“All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love.”
Thoughts of Prince Andrew Bk XII, Ch. 16 -
Attributed to Leo Tolstoy:
“Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it.”
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“Error is the force that welds men together; truth is communicated to men only by deeds of truth. Only deeds of truth, by introducing light into the conscience of each individual, can dissolve the cohesion of error, and detach men one by one from the mass united together by the cohesion of error.”
My Religion (1884), Ch. 12 -
“Martin's soul grew very very glad. He crossed himself put on his spectacles, and began reading the Gospel just where it had opened; and at the top of the page he read: I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in. And at the bottom of the page he read: Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren even these least, ye did it unto me (Matt. xxv). And Martin understood that his dream had come true; and that the Saviour had really come to him that day, and he had welcomed him.”
Where Love Is, God Is " (1885), also translated as "Where Love is, There God is Also" - (full text online) -
“For us, with the rule of right and wrong given us by Christ, there is nothing for which we have no standard. And there is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth.”
War and Peace(1865–1867; 1869) | Bk. XIV, ch. 18 -
“Go — take the mother's soul, and learn three truths: Learn What dwells in man, What is not given to man , and What men live by . When thou hast learnt these things, thou shalt return to heaven.”
What Men Live By(1881) | Ch. IV -
“The only significance of life consists in helping to establish the kingdom of God ; and this can be done only by means of the acknowledgment and profession of the truth by each one of us.”
The Kingdom of God is Within You(1894) | Chapter XII , Conclusion—Repent Ye, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand Variant translation: The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity by contributing to the establishment of the kingdom of God, -
“One can insult an honest man or an honest woman, but to tell a thief that he is a thief is merely la constation d'un fait [The establishing of a fact.]”
Anna Karenina(1875–1877; 1878) | Pt. IV, ch. 4 -
“One is ashamed to say how little is needed for all men to be delivered from those calamities which now oppress them; it is only needful not to lie.”
Patriotism and Christianity(1896) | Ch. 17 -
“The truth is that the State is a conspiracy designed not only to exploit, but above all to corrupt its citizens ... Henceforth, I shall never serve any government anywhere.”
As quoted in Tolstoy (1988) by A. N. Wilson , p. 146