Some of his words are:
My brother, who is dead, acts upon me now more strongly than he did in life; he even penetrates my being and lifts me up towards him. How can I say that he is dead. Men who have renounced their individual happiness never doubt their immortality. Christ knew that He would continue to live after His death because He had already entered into the true life which cannot cease. He lived even then in the rays of that other centre of life toward which He was advancing, and He saw them reflected on those who stood around Him. And this every man who renounces his own good beholds; he passes in this life into a new relation with the world for which there is no death; on one side he sees the new light, on the other he witnesses its actions on his fellows after being refracted through himself; and this experience gives him an immovable faith in the stability, immortality, and eternal growth of life. Faith in immortality cannot be received from another; you cannot convince yourself of it by argument. To have this faith you must have immortality; you must have established with the world in the present life the new relation of life, which the world is no longer wide enough to contain.
Per vivere con onore bisogna struggersi, turbarsi, battersi, sbagliare, ricominciare da capo e buttar via tutto, e di nuovo ricominciare a lottare e perdere eternamente. La calma è una vigliaccheria dell'anima.
turbare - tangle (up)
"Art is a human activity having for its purpose the transmission to others of the highest and best feelings to which men have risen."
"Let me give you a piece of advice: Leo Tolstoy is not the only human being on this planet. Yet all I ever hear you talking about is Leo Tolstoy..."
Leo Tolstoy's words just before his death.
Leo Tolstoy died on the night of Nov. 7, 1910; Astapovo
The following thoughts entered in Tolstoy's diary had been dictated by him to Alexandra at Astapovo on November 1, 1910:
"God is the infinite ALL. Man is only a finite manifestation of Him.
"Or better yet:
"God is that infinite All of which man knows himself to be a finite part.
"God alone exists truly. Man manifests Him in time, space and matter. The more God's manifestation in man (life) unites with the manifestations (lives) of other beings, the more man exists. This union with the lives of other beings is accomplished through love.
"God is not love, but the more there is of love, the more man manifests God, and the more he truly exists...
"We acknowledge God only when we are conscious of His manifestation in us. All conclusions and guidelines based on this consciousness should fully satisfy both our desire to know God as such as well as our desire to live a life based on this recognition."
