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
I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives.
Interpretation
What this quote means
People often resist accepting simple truths that contradict their established beliefs and teachings.
This quote by Leo Tolstoy emphasizes the human tendency to cling to complex ideas and beliefs, even in the face of obvious truths. It highlights how individuals can weave these beliefs into their lives, making it difficult for them to accept simpler, more truthful perspectives that may invalidate their proud assertions and teachings, thus showcasing the struggle between truth and ego.
Themes
TruthBeliefsKnowledgeEgoAcceptance
In practice
Example use cases
In a philosophical discussion about the nature of truth.
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
Whatever is done without ostentation, and without the people being witnesses of it, is, in my opinion, most praiseworthy: not that the public eye should be entirely avoided, for good actions desire to be placed in the light; but notwithstanding this, the greatest theater for virtue is conscience.
Marcus Tullius CiceroRead
I was tired of seeing the Graces always depicted as beautiful young things. I think wisdom comes with age and life and pain. And knowing what matters.
Louise PennyRead
The grandiose person is never really free; first because he is excessively dependent on admiration from others, and second, because his self-respect is dependent on qualities, functions, and achievements that can suddenly fail.
Alice MillerRead
A fool too late bewares when all the peril is past.
Elizabeth IRead
Our best evidence of what people truly feel and believe comes less from their words than from their deeds.
Robert CialdiniRead
He hath a heart as sound as a bell, and his tongue is the clapper; for what his heart thinks his tongue speaks.
William ShakespeareRead