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He was right in saying that the only certain happiness in life is to live for others.
Leo Tolstoy
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Interpretation

What this quote means

True happiness comes from selflessly serving others.

This quote by Leo Tolstoy emphasizes the idea that genuine happiness is not found in the pursuit of personal gain or pleasure but instead in the act of living for the benefit of others. It suggests that fulfillment arises from acts of kindness, generosity, and service, highlighting the interconnectedness of humanity and the joy that can be derived from helping those around us.

Themes

HappinessServiceSelflessnessFulfillmentCommunity

In practice

Example use cases

During a speech about volunteer work, one could quote Tolstoy to inspire others to give back to the community.

More from Leo Tolstoy

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.
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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 β€” such is my idea of happiness.
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