Quote by: Leo Tolstoy

At the advent of danger there are always two voices that speak with equal force in the human heart: one very reasonably invites a man to consider the nature of the peril and the means of escaping it; the other, with a still greater show of reason, argues that it is too depressing and painful to think of the danger since it is not in man's power to foresee everything and avert the general march of events, and it is better therefore to shut one's eyes to the disagreeable until it actually comes, and to think instead of what is pleasant. When a man is alone he generally listens to the first voice; in the company of his fellow-men, to the second.


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Author Bio


  • NameLeo Tolstoy
  • DescriptionRussian writer
  • AliasesTolstoi; Tolstoy
  • BornAugust 28, 1828
  • DiedNovember 7, 1910
  • CountryRussian Empire
  • ProfessionWriter; Playwright; Philosopher; Novelist; Esperantist; Children's Writer; Educationist
  • WorksWar And Peace; Anna Karenina; A Confession; The Kingdom Of God Is Within You; Sebastopol Sketches; What Is Art?; What Is To Be Done?; Boyhood; Childhood; The Cossacks; The Death Of Ivan Ilyich; Family Happiness; Hadji Murat; The Kreutzer Sonata; Resurrection; The Forged Coupon; Youth; The Fruits Of Enlightenment; The Light Shines In The Darkness; The Living Corpse; The Power Of Darkness; The Devil; Albert; Alyosha The Pot; The Big Oven; Croesus And Fate; Father Sergius; God Sees The Truth, But Waits; The Grain; How Much Land Does A Man Need?; Ivan The Fool (story); Kholstomer; A Lost Opportunity; Master And Man; Promoting A Devil; Quench The Spark; The Raid; Repentance; The Snowstorm; The Three Hermits; Three Deaths; The Three Questions; Too Dear!; What Men Live By; Where Love Is, God Is; Wisdom Of Children; Work, Death, And Sickness