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
Patriotism in its simplest, clearest and most indubitable signification is nothing else but a means of obtaining for the rulers their ambitions and covetous desires, and for the ruled the abdication of human dignity, reason, conscience, and a slavish enthrallment to those in power.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Patriotism often serves the interests of rulers while undermining the dignity and reason of the people.
In this quote, Leo Tolstoy critiques the concept of patriotism, suggesting that it primarily functions as a tool for those in power to achieve their personal ambitions, while simultaneously leading the populace to relinquish their autonomy, dignity, and rational thought. He implies that blind loyalty to the state or leaders may result in a loss of individual freedoms and moral clarity, effectively enslaving the masses to authority.
Themes
PatriotismPowerDignityFreedomCritique
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about national identity, this quote can highlight the potential dangers of blind patriotism.
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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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.
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