Art begins when a man, with a purpose of communicating to other people a feeling he once experienced, calls it up again within himself and expresses it by certain external signs.
Leo TolstoyRead
Love alone is the only reasonable activity or pursuit of humankind....Fo r Love not only annihilates our fear of meaninglessness but empowers us to seek the happiness of others. And this indeed is our greatest happiness.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Love is the essential purpose of life, overcoming our fears and encouraging us to prioritize others' happiness.
In this quote, Leo Tolstoy emphasizes the transformative power of love in our lives. He suggests that love is not just a feeling but a meaningful pursuit that can eradicate our fears of existential meaninglessness. Furthermore, he highlights that true happiness is found in seeking the well-being of others, making love an integral part of human existence and fulfillment.
Themes
LoveHappinessFearMeaningHumankind
In practice
Example use cases
In a wedding speech to celebrate the couple's love and commitment.
More from Leo Tolstoy
All quotes →Pierre looked into the sky, into the depths of the retreating, twinkling stars. "And all this is mine, and all this is in me, and all this is me!" thought Pierre. "And all this they've caught and put in a shed and boarded it up!
Leo TolstoyRead
People try to do all sorts of clever and difficult things to improve life instead of doing the simplest, easiest thing-refusing to participate in activities that make life bad.
Leo TolstoyRead
It's too easy to criticize a man when he's out of favour, and to make him shoulder the blame for everybody else's mistakes.
Leo TolstoyRead
Music is the shorthand of emotion. Emotions, which let themselves be described in words with such difficulty, are directly conveyed to man in music, and in that is its power and significance.
Leo TolstoyRead
A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbor — such is my idea of happiness.
Leo TolstoyRead
Similar quotes
I’ve learned that you can’t predict [love] or plan for it. For someone like me who is obsessed with organization and planning, I love the idea that love is the one exception to that. Love is the one wild card.
Taylor SwiftRead
In fact, the Alejandro video...is a celebration of my love and appreciation for the gay community, my admiration of their bravery, and their love for one another, their courage in their relationships.
Lady GagaRead
I dread the loss of her I've never touched love keeps me a slave in a cage of tears I gnaw my tongue with which to her I can never speak I miss a woman who was never born I kiss a woman across the years that say we shall never meet Everything passes Everything perishes Everything palls my thought walks away with a killing smile leaving discordant anxiety which roars in my soul No hope No hope No hope No hope No hope No hope No hope
Sarah KaneRead
A boy spends his time finding a girl to sleep with. A real man spends his time looking for the one worth waking up to.
John F. KennedyRead
Married love between man and woman is bigger than oaths guarded by right of nature.
AeschylusRead
Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him.
C. S. LewisRead