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 time is fast approaching when to call a man a patriot will be the deepest insult you can offer him. Patriotism now means advocating plunder in the interest of the privileged classes of the particular State system into which we have happened to be born.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote critiques the concept of patriotism, suggesting it has become associated with the interests of the elite rather than true love for one’s country.
Leo Tolstoy's quote reflects a profound disillusionment with the notion of patriotism, positing that true patriotism has been corrupted. He argues that in modern society, calling someone a patriot has become synonymous with supporting the exploitation and plunder of resources for the benefit of the privileged elite, thus rendering the term an insult rather than a compliment. This perspective challenges the traditional understanding of patriotism as a noble virtue, framing it instead as a tool of oppression and classism.
Themes
PatriotismCritiqueEliteClass SystemDisillusionment
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the implications of blind nationalism 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.
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