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 possibility of killing one's self is a safety valve. Having it, man has no right to say life is unbearable.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that the option of ending one's own life provides a sense of safety and control over one's existence.
In this quote, Leo Tolstoy expresses the idea that the mere possibility of suicide serves as a 'safety valve' for individuals facing unbearable situations. This option gives people a sense of autonomy and eliminates absolute despair, implying that one cannot claim life is entirely intolerable while maintaining the option to escape from it completely. It suggests that acknowledging this possibility gives individuals a measure of strength and control over their circumstances.
Themes
SuicideControlLifeDespairAutonomy
In practice
Example use cases
In a mental health seminar discussing coping mechanisms, one might use this quote to highlight the importance of recognizing choices.
More from Leo Tolstoy
All quotes βPierre 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 β such is my idea of happiness.
Leo TolstoyRead
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