No list of world’s greatest novelists can be complete without the mention of Russian author, Leo Tolstoy. Generations have come and gone, each only augmenting the sheer brilliance of Tolstoy as a master of realistic fiction. His novels, ‘War and Peace’, ‘Anna Karenina’ and ‘The Death of Ivan Ilyich’ even today are ranked amongst the best in the world and are counted amongst the finest novels ever written. His works share a vision of human experience rooted in an appreciation of everyday life and prosaic virtues. Tolstoy’s ability to observe the smallest changes of consciousness and to record the slightest movements of the body is something not many novelists can claim to have even today in the 21st century. Literary accomplishments apart, Tolstoy attracted attention due to his new faith, which mixed pacifism with Christian anarchism and advocated living a morally and physically ascetic lifestyle. Among those influenced by Tolstoy’s social beliefs was Mahatma Gandhi, who started the non-violent movement in India and brought the country its independence from British Raj. Tolstoy’s spiritual belief, religious sentiments and literary brilliance can also be seen in his quotes that cover a vast variety of subjects and give a new perspective to life.
Only people who are capable of loving strongly can also suffer great sorrow, but this same necessity of loving serves to counteract their grief and heals them.
Leo Tolstoy
We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom.
A man can live and be healthy without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite. And to act so is immoral.
Sometimes she did not know what she feared, what she desired: whether she feared or desired what had been or what would be, and precisely what she desired, she did not know.
Leo Tolstoy
Happiness does not depend on outward things, but on the way we see them.
