My first culture was Russian.
I think I read everything written by L. Tolstoy. I also read a lot about him and how some of his ideas were wrong and harmful.
However, I believe that it is very good for everyone to read his quotes from “War and Peace”, to think about meaning of each of them and relevance of these quotes today.
War and Peace is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in 1869. The work is epic in scale and is regarded as one of the most important works of world literature.It is considered as Tolstoy’s finest literary achievement, along with his other major prose work, Anna Karenina.
The novel was first published in its entirety in 1869.Newsweek in 2009 ranked it first in its list of the Top 100 Books.In 2003, the novel was listed at number 20 on the BBC’s survey The Big Read.
“A battle is won by him who is firmly resolved to win it.”
“We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom.”
“Nothing is so necessary for a young man as the company of intelligent women.”
“If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war.”
“The strongest of all warriors…
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PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS 
I just love Tolstoy! What a great writer! Thank you JF 🙂
Do you know that he wrote some of his books in French and later they were translated
into Russian? When I read “War and Peace” one half of each page was in Russian, another
half in French.
No I didn’t! But I guess French was a language that was used a lot in his circle at the time 🙂
Right! For the Russian nobility it was often the first language.
I love a movie director called Andrei Tarkovsky. Have you ever jeard of this Russian Moviemaker??? He is truly a genius. I have published his polaroids on my blog. I do admire this country and it’s inhabitants who always have fough whatever would come their way with such courage and strenght. They did such amazing stuff in such difficult times. They never ceasse to amaze me.
I met Tarkovsky once during a New Year party. He was two years older.
Russia had a terrible past for centuries and was able to survive and
become a mighty country. Only naive people can think that its leaders
will change their policy.
So true!! I bet Tarkovsky is a very simple guy, not an the excentric outgoing kinda guy? One thing I thought was weird is the cruelty with the animals that you see in a couple of movies… A reminder that Russia has seen lots of blood and wars and cruelty and sufered from it.
Russia had centuries of cruelty. Nobles had serfs (almost like slaves). After Socialistic Revolution
(1917) more than 20 millions were killed (or died in stalags) by the government.
There was more cruelty with people than with animals.
Yes of course I know. Nevermind…Sorry you didn’t get what I was trying to say. I don’t know how to say it in different words than I already did.
You are wrong! I got what you were saying and you said it clear and with knowledge.
Just understand that for many years I was a patriot of my motherland. Then after Stalin’s
death so much hidden became known that it was impossible to love the country and stay in
it. When I decided to risk everything and asked for a permission to emigrate I became
“the enemy of the State”. Later the Soviet Union desintegrated and many people in Russia
hoped that the country will become a democratic country. It did not happen!
I understand what you are saying. I titally get it. I learned it amongst other things from a three volume encyclopedia explaining the tatoos of the soviet prisonners. It was fascinating. They are amongst my favorite books i own. http://www.amazon.ca/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=russian+criminal+tattoo&tag=googcana-20&index=aps&hvadid=23914619382&hvpos=1s1&hvexid=&hvnetw=s&hvrand=9425724084668210593&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_5opkpsa7gy_b
Here is the link to his Polaroids btw… They are really beautiful pictures… Almost like paintings because of the particular look of polaroids… http://tobedamit.com/2014/07/15/andrei-tarkovskys-polaroids%e2%80%8e/
Thank you!
Some very wise and sharable quotes in there.
L.Tolstoy was a wise man, but he had a fair share of wrong ideas and
actions too. None of us are perfect. 😉
True! But it’s good to cherry-pick the worthwhile bits to carry forward.
That’s why I have many posts with quotes.
🙂