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
To us, it is incomprehensible that millions of Christian men killed and tortured each other because Napoleon was ambitious or Alexander was firm, or because England's policy was astute or the Duke of Oldenburg was wronged. We cannot grasp what connection such circumstances have the with the actual fact of slaughter and violence: why because the Duke was wronged, thousands of men from the other side of Europe killed and ruined the people of Smolensk and Moscow and were killed by them.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Tolstoy highlights the absurdity of war driven by ambition and political motives, questioning the justification for violence.
In this quote, Tolstoy reflects on the incomprehensible nature of war, drawing attention to how individual ambitions and political disagreements can lead to widespread violence and suffering. He expresses disbelief that millions would take up arms and inflict harm on one another for reasons that seem trivial when viewed through the lens of human experience and morality. This quote serves as a critique of the underlying motivations for war, suggesting that the suffering inflicted is disproportionate to the political reasons that instigate such conflicts.
Themes
WarViolencePoliticsHumanityAbsurdity
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the futility of war at a community gathering, this quote can be used to illustrate how political ambitions lead to devastating consequences.
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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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