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
The law of violence is not a law, but a simple fact which can only be a law when it does not meet with protest and opposition. It is like the cold, darkness and weight, which people had to put up with until recently when warmth, illumination and leverage were discovered.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Violence is an inherent fact of reality that can become a regulated law only if there is no resistance against it.
In this quote, Leo Tolstoy emphasizes that the nature of violence is often accepted as a norm or law only when it is not challenged. He compares this acceptance to the historical understanding of natural phenomena like coldness and darkness, which were endured until improvements and advancements were made to combat them. His argument suggests that just as society has evolved to seek out warmth and light, it should similarly strive to resist and transform the acceptance of violence into a quest for justice and peace.
Themes
ViolenceLawProtestPeaceOpposition
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech on social justice, one might use this quote to highlight the importance of resisting oppressive systems.
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.
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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
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