35 Leo Tolstoy Quotes About Love, Happiness and Life

Inspirational Leo Tolstoy Quotes

Our latest collection of Leo Tolstoy quotes on Everyday Power.

1. “Respect was invented to cover the empty place where love should be.” – Leo Tolstoy

2. “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” – Leo Tolstoy

3. “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” – Leo Tolstoy

You will also enjoy our article on leo quotes.

4. “It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness.” – Leo Tolstoy

5. “If you look for perfection, you’ll never be content.” – Leo Tolstoy

6. “Spring is the time of plans and projects.” – Leo Tolstoy

7. “If you want to be happy, be.”– Leo Tolstoy

8. “We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom.” – Leo Tolstoy

9. “He stepped down, trying not to look long at her, as if she were the sun, yet he saw her, like the sun, even without looking.” – Leo Tolstoy

10. “In the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you.” – Leo Tolstoy

You will also enjoy our article on War and Peace quotes.

Leo Tolstoy Quotes to elevate your perspective

11. “I think… if it is true that there are as many minds as there are heads, then there are as many kinds of love as there are hearts.” – Leo Tolstoy

12. “If, then, I were asked for the most important advice I could give, that which I considered to be the most useful to the men of our century, I should simply say: in the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you.” – Leo Tolstoy

13. “Is it really possible to tell someone else what one feels?” – Leo Tolstoy

14. “When you love someone, you love the person as they are, and not as you’d like them to be.” – Leo Tolstoy

15. “Rummaging in our souls, we often dig up something that ought to have lain there unnoticed. ” – Leo Tolstoy

16. “Nothing is so necessary for a young man as the company of intelligent women.” – Leo Tolstoy

17. “Freethinkers are those who are willing to use their minds without prejudice and without fearing to understand things that clash with their own customs, privileges, or beliefs. This state of mind is not common, but it is essential for right thinking…” – Leo Tolstoy

18. “Be bad, but at least don’t be a liar, a deceiver!” – Leo Tolstoy

19. “The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.” – Leo Tolstoy

20. “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.” – Leo Tolstoy

21. “Anything is better than lies and deceit!” – Leo Tolstoy

22. “I’ve always loved you, and when you love someone, you love the whole person, just as he or she is, and not as you would like them to be.” – Leo Tolstoy

23. “All the variety, all the charm, all the beauty of life is made up of light and shadow.” – Leo Tolstoy

24. “Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it.” – Leo Tolstoy

If you enjoy this article, check out our collection of Anna Karenina quotes from Leo Tolstoy’s classic novel.

More Leo Tolstoy quotes and sayings

25. “Love. The reason I dislike that word is that it means too much for me, far more than you can understand.” – Leo Tolstoy

26. “The strongest of all warriors are these two Time and Patience.” – Leo Tolstoy

27. “If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war.” – Leo Tolstoy

28. “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

29. “Boredom: the desire for desires.” – Leo Tolstoy

30. “I always loved you, and if one loves anyone, one loves the whole person, just as they are and not as one would like them to be.” – Leo Tolstoy

31. “Love is life. All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. Everything is, everything exists, only because I love. Everything is united by it alone. Love is God, and to die means that I, a particle of love, shall return to the general and eternal source.” – Leo Tolstoy

32. “There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth.” – Leo Tolstoy

33. “All great literature is one of two stories; a man goes on a journey or a stranger comes to town.” – Leo Tolstoy

34. “It’s much better to do good in a way that no one knows anything about it.” – Leo Tolstoy

35. “Only people who are capable of loving strongly can also suffer great sorrow, but this same necessity of loving serves to counteract their grief and heals them.” – Leo Tolstoy