Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy, born 1828, died 1910, was a novelist and playwright and was the author of many notable nooks such as War and Peace and Anna Karenina. He was a believer in pacifism, vegetarianism and communism, and was influenced by Buddhism and Jesus Christ’s sermons. Leo Tolstoy is said to have inspired many significant historical figures such as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King with his pacifist and non-violent ideas.
Father of 14 children, and husband of Sophia Tolstaya, Leo Tolstoy was descended from an aristocratic Russian family. His mother passed away when he was two years old, and then his father when he was nine. He and his three older brothers were then raised by a variety of aunts and relations. In his youth he struggled with his education and gathered lots of debts from gambling. Tired of leading a purposeless life, Tolstoy decided to sign up for the Russian Army, after some persuasion from his older brother, Nikolay. He later described his years as a soldier as misspent and wasted, and it was his experiences in the army which led to him becoming a pacifist.
Leo Tolstoy then traveled Europe looking for a better understanding of the meaning of life. He manged to get himself into quite a few rows with prominent (some of them more than others) names of his time, due the fact that he would get quite argumentative with anyone who disagreed with him. He did however, develop a great sympathy with peasants and the poor and tried his best to help whoever he could.
War and Peace is perhaps the novel that is most famous of Tolstoy’s, though he never saw it as a novel but as an epic. It is remarkable with it’s realism and historical references (at least that’s what I hear – I haven’t actually read it!).
Quotes from Leo Tolstoy:
“If you look for perfection, you’ll never be content.”
“It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness.”
“If, then, I were asked for the most important advice I could give, that which I considered to be the most useful to the men of our century, I should simply say: in the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you.”
“Respect was invented to cover the empty place where love should be.”
“The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.”
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