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
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!
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses a profound connection between the individual and the universe, highlighting both ownership and confinement.
In this quote, Pierre reflects on his deep connection to the universe, recognizing that everything around him is not only part of his existence but also a reflection of his inner self. Yet, he grapples with a sense of loss, perceiving that the broader essence of life and beauty has been confined or restricted, suggesting a philosophical inquiry into freedom, existence, and the nature of the self.
Themes
UniverseSelfConnectionFreedomExistence
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about personal growth, one could reference this quote to illustrate the discovery of one's potential.
More from Leo Tolstoy
All quotes →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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Man survives earthquakes, epidemics, the horrors of disease, and all the agonies of the soul, but for all time his tormenting tragedy is, and will be, the tragedy of the bedroom.
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Fairness is a concept that holds only in limited situations. Yet we want the concept to extend to everything, in and out of phase. From snails to hardware stores to married life. Maybe no one finds it, or even misses it, but fairness is like love. What is given has nothing to do with what we seek.
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Samuel JohnsonRead