Leo Tolstoy, A Confession
"Involuntarily it appeared to me that there, somewhere, was someone who amused himself by watching how I lived for thirty or forty years: learning, developing, maturing in body and mind, and how, having with matured mental powers reached the summit of life from which it all lay before me, I stood on that summit -- like an arch-fool -- seeing clearly that there is nothing in life, and that there has been and will be nothing. And he was amused... But whether that "someone" laughing at me existed or not, I was none the better off. I could give no reasonable meaning to any single action or to my whole life. I was only surprised that I could have avoided understanding this from the very beginning -- it has been so long known to all. Today or tomorrow sickness and death will come (they had come already) to those I love or to me; nothing will remain but stench and worms. Sooner or later my affairs, whatever they may be, will be forgotten, and I shall not exist. Then why go on making any effort?... How can man fail to see this? And how go on living? That is what is surprising! One can only live while one is intoxicated with life; as soon as one is sober it is impossible not to see that it is all a mere fraud and a stupid fraud! That is precisely what it is: there is nothing either amusing or witty about it, it is simply cruel and stupid."
8 Quotes
"Involuntarily it appeared to me that there, somewhere, was someone who amused himself by watching how I lived for thirty or forty years: learning, developing, maturing in body and mind, and how, having with matured mental powers reached the summit of life from which it all lay before me, I stood on that summit -- like an arch-fool -- seeing clearly that there is nothing in life, and that there has been and will be nothing. And he was amused... But whether that "someone" laughing at me existed or not, I was none the better off. I could give no reasonable meaning to any single action or to my whole life. I was only surprised that I could have avoided understanding this from the very beginning -- it has been so long known to all. Today or tomorrow sickness and death will come (they had come already) to those I love or to me; nothing will remain but stench and worms. Sooner or later my affairs, whatever they may be, will be forgotten, and I shall not exist. Then why go on making any effort?... How can man fail to see this? And how go on living? That is what is surprising! One can only live while one is intoxicated with life; as soon as one is sober it is impossible not to see that it is all a mere fraud and a stupid fraud! That is precisely what it is: there is nothing either amusing or witty about it, it is simply cruel and stupid."
"تراءى لي قسراً أن هناك، في مكان ما، من يتسلى بمراقبة حياتي كيف مضت ثلاثين أو أربعين عاماً: أتعلم وأتطور، وينضج جسدي وعقلي، وكيف، بعد أن بلغت قواي العقلية أوج نضجها، وصلت إلى قمة الحياة التي منها يتجلى لي كل شيء، وقفت على تلك القمة – كأحمق مطبق – أرى بوضوح أنه لا شيء في الحياة، وأنه لم يكن ولن يكون شيء. وكان يتسلى...
لكن سواء وُجد ذلك "الشخص" الذي يضحك مني أم لم يوجد، لم يغير ذلك من حالي شيئاً. لم أستطع أن أمنح معنى معقولاً لأي فعل منفرد أو لحياتي برمتها. لقد دهشت فقط كيف غاب عني إدراك هذا منذ البداية، وهو أمر معلوم للجميع منذ زمن طويل. اليوم أو غداً سيأتي المرض والموت (وقد أتيا بالفعل) لأولئك الذين أحبهم أو لي؛ ولن يبقى سوى النتن والدود. عاجلاً أم آجلاً، ستُنسى شؤوني، مهما كانت، ولن يبقى لي أثر. فما الجدوى من بذل أي جهد؟... كيف يمكن للإنسان ألا يرى هذا؟ وكيف يستمر في العيش؟ هذا هو المدهش!
لا يستطيع المرء أن يحيا إلا وهو سكران بالحياة؛ فما إن يفيق المرء حتى يستحيل عليه ألا يرى أن كل ذلك ليس سوى خدعة، وخدعة بلهاء! هذا هو بالضبط ما هي عليه: لا شيء فيها مسلٍ أو بارع، إنها ببساطة قاسية وبلهاء."
Leo Tolstoy, A Confession
"My belief assumed a form that it commonly assumes among the educated people of our time. This belief was expressed by the word "progress." At the time it seemed to me that this word had meaning. Like any living individual, I was tormented by questions of how to live better. I still had not understood that in answering that one must live according to progress, I was talking just like a person being carried along in a boat by the waves and the wind; without really answering, such a person replies to the only important question-"Where are we to steer"-by saying, "We are being carried somewhere."
"لقد اتخذ اعتقادي الشكل الذي يتخذه عادةً بين المثقفين في عصرنا. وقد عُبّر عن هذا الاعتقاد بكلمة "التقدم". في ذلك الوقت، بدا لي أن لهذه الكلمة معنى. وكمثل أي فرد حي، كنت أتعذب بأسئلة حول كيفية عيش حياة أفضل. لم أكن قد أدركت بعد أنني، بإجابتي بأن المرء يجب أن يعيش وفقًا للتقدم، كنت أتحدث تمامًا كشخص تحمله الأمواج والرياح في قارب؛ فمثل هذا الشخص، دون أن يجيب حقًا، يرد على السؤال الوحيد المهم – "إلى أين نوجه الدفة؟" – بقوله: "نحن نُحمل إلى مكان ما."
Leo Tolstoy, A Confession
"I understood, not with my intellect but with my whole being, that no theories of the rationality of existence or of progress could justify such an act; I realized that even if all the people in the world from the day of creation found this to be necessary according to whatever theory, I knew that it was not necessary and that it was wrong. Therefore, my judgments must be based-on what is right and necessary and not on what people say and do; I must judge not according to progress but according to my own heart."
"أدركتُ، لا بعقلي بل بكينونتي كلها، أن لا نظريات لعقلانية الوجود أو للتقدم يمكن أن تبرر مثل هذا الفعل؛ أدركتُ أنه حتى لو رأى جميع الناس في العالم منذ يوم الخليقة أن هذا ضروري وفقًا لأي نظرية كانت، فقد علمتُ أنه ليس ضروريًا وأنه خطأ. لذلك، يجب أن تستند أحكامي إلى ما هو صواب وضروري، لا إلى ما يقوله الناس ويفعلونه؛ يجب أن أحكم لا وفقًا للتقدم، بل وفقًا لقلبي أنا."
Leo Tolstoy, A Confession
"I realized that even if all the people in the world from the day of creation found this to be necessary according to whatever theory, I knew that it was not necessary and that it was wrong. Therefore, my judgements must be based on what is right and necessary and not on what people say and do; I must judge not according to progress but according to my own heart."
"أدركتُ أنه حتى لو أجمعَ أهلُ العالم قاطبةً، منذ فجر الخليقة، على ضرورة هذا الأمر وفقاً لأي نظرية كانت، كنتُ أعلمُ أنه ليس ضرورياً وأنه خاطئ. وعليه، يجب أن تستند أحكامي إلى ما هو صواب وضروري، لا إلى ما يقوله الناس ويفعلونه؛ ينبغي ألا أحكم بناءً على مفهوم التقدم، بل بما يمليه عليّ قلبي."
Leo Tolstoy, A Confession
"I do not live when I loose belief in the existence of God. I should long ago have killed myself had I not had a dim hope of finding Him. I live really live only when I feel him and seek Him"
Leo Tolstoy, A Confession
"It was long before I could believe that human learning had no clear answer to this question. For a long time it seemed to me, as I listened to the gravity and seriousness wherewith Science affirmed its positions on matters unconnected with the problem of life, that I must have misunderstood something. For a long time I was timid in the presence in learning, and I fancied that the insufficiency of the answers which I received was not its fault, but was owing to my own gross ignorance, but this thing was not a joke or a pastime with me, but the business of my life, and I was at last forced, willy-nilly, to the conclusion that these questions of mine were the only legitimate questions underlying all knowledge, and that it was not I that was in fault in putting them, but science in pretending to have an answer for them."
Leo Tolstoy, A Confession
"At the time we were all convinced that we had to speak, write,and publish as quickly as possible and as much as possible and that this was necessary for the good of mankind. Thousands of us published and wrote in an effort to teach others, all the while disclaiming and abusing one another. Without taking note of the fact that we knew nothing, that we did not know the answer to the simplest question of life, the question of what is right and what is wrong, we all went on talking without listening to one another."
Leo Tolstoy, A Confession
"Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it."
Leo Tolstoy, A Confession
✉️
Get more quotes like Leo Tolstoy, A Confession's — every morning.
Join thousands of wisdom seekers getting daily quotes from 300,000+ curated sources.
Free forever. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
🎉 Check your inbox to confirm your subscription!