The Kingdom of God is within you; that is, your happiness, your salvation, depends not on external conditions, but on your own inner disposition.Leo Tolstoy
The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him.Leo Tolstoy
Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.Leo Tolstoy
In the admission of a lie in the recognition of this strange, perplexing, and truly Russian form of hypocrisy lies the only possibility of a regeneration of our society.Leo Tolstoy
Nonresistance is not only the absence of harm to others under the guise of defending oneself, but it is also the well-wishing towards those who wish us evil.Leo Tolstoy
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.Leo Tolstoy
The Christian doctrine in its direct and simple sense has always been understood and is still understood by a minority only, while the majority, who were unfitted for its comprehension, formed for themselves a more accessible heathen Christianity, with which they have lived, and with which they continue to live.Leo Tolstoy
The law of love is in accord with the nature of man. But men can only recognize this truth to its full extent when they have completely freed themselves from all religious and scientific superstitions and from all the consequent misrepresentations and sophistical distortions by which its recognition has been hindered for centuries.Leo Tolstoy
All violence consists in some people forcing others, under threat of suffering or death, to do what they do not want to do.Leo Tolstoy
It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness.Leo Tolstoy