“We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom.”
― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
“Nothing is so necessary for a young man as the company of intelligent women.”
― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
“A man can live and be healthy without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite. And to act so is immoral.”
― Leo Tolstoy
Paraphrased from respectively
Socrates
Socrates
Plutarch
Good writers borrow, great writers steal
T.S. Eliot
That first is spot on, an amazing display of courage and insight.
The second sounds very idealistic. In old age Tolstoy and his wife didn’t get along at all. That of course does not negate the statement, but I wonder if he still thought the same way.
I’m surprised by that last. I had thought Tolstoy was an avid duck hunter, based on some of his writing.
Tolstoy learned of vegetarianism from Ghandi, with who he corresponded and came to espouse the merits of it, without ever actually fully embracing it.