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
Money is a new form of slavery, and distinguishable from the old simply by the fact that it is impersonal - that there is no human relation between master and slave.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that money can control people in a detached way, similar to the old forms of slavery, but without direct personal connections.
Leo Tolstoy's quote highlights the insidious nature of money, suggesting that it enslaves individuals by creating impersonal relationships. Unlike traditional slavery, where the master directly exercised power over the slave, modern economic systems create a distant form of control, where individuals become subservient to financial obligations and societal pressures without the need for personal attachment, leading to a dehumanizing experience.
Themes
MoneySlaveryControlImpersonalFreedom
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about consumerism and its effects on society.
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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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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.
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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.
Leo TolstoyRead
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