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
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Simplifying life involves avoiding negative influences rather than complicating it with difficult solutions.
This quote by Leo Tolstoy emphasizes the importance of addressing life's challenges by eliminating harmful influences instead of overcomplicating the situation with complex strategies. It suggests that often the most effective way to improve our lives is to withdraw from activities or influences that contribute to our unhappiness, rather than constantly seeking elaborate and difficult solutions.
Themes
LifeSimplicityHappinessNegativityWisdom
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about finding peace in daily life.
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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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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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