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
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Criticism is often unjustly directed towards those who are already down, making them unjustly bear the burden of others' failings.
In this quote, Tolstoy highlights the propensity of people to unfairly criticize individuals who are already struggling or in a vulnerable position. The statement reflects the idea that when someone falls out of favor, they become a scapegoat, unjustly absorbing the blame for circumstances and mistakes that are often beyond their control. This stance on human behavior encourages empathy and the recognition of the complexities involved in any individual's situation, urging us to be more compassionate rather than judgmental.
Themes
CriticismEmpathyBlameMistakesRelationships
In practice
Example use cases
During a team meeting, one might quote this to remind everyone not to blame the recent failures solely on the team leader.
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!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Man survives earthquakes, epidemics, the horrors of disease, and all the agonies of the soul, but for all time his tormenting tragedy is, and will be, the tragedy of the bedroom.
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