Scan barcode
rick2's review against another edition
4.0
Tolstoy is great, if a bit confused about religion at times.
mayralimeirajm's review against another edition
Never imagined this would be so overwhelmingly religious. I love Tolstoy's works, but this is not my kind of stuff at all.
hjortron's review against another edition
4.0
A superb collection of thoughts from the great thinkers of our time by Leo Tolstoy, condensed by the translator into topics covering one page per day of the year. I read the book (almost) each morning and this was a really good experience, even though many of the quotes felt unfounded and sometimes outdated it was easy to skim through those part and focus more on the parts which were more interesting.
Much of the quotes were from Tolstoy himself and conveyed his own values. His view on religion gave me a new perspective on God in the modern world; your inner voice speaking in terms of wisdom you have collected from the outside world. He thought today's church to be corrupted and have left the principles so laid out by Jesus and embraced wisdom from all parts of the world and all its religions into his faith, making his view of God broader than the singular view of the traditional Christian. Living in the late 19th century however he still had some views regarding women which has not aged well.
Many of the thoughts on philosophy and morality were greatly inspiring. These five quotes combined capture the essence of what I found important and will take with me from the book:
"It is said that people's greatest blessing is their freedom. If freedom is indeed a blessing then someone who is free cannot be unhappy. In other words, if you see someone who is unhappy, suffering and moaning about something, you will know that that person is not free, and is enslaved by one person or another in one way or another.
If freedom is indeed a blessing then a free person cannot be enslaved against his will. So if you see someone humiliating himself in front of another person and fawning on him, you will know that that person isn't free either. He is a slave, because he is wanting food, looking for some advantageous position or seeking in general to take advantage of something that does not belong to him." Epictetus, Discourses (108 AD)
"There are people who deliberately place themselves in extremely gloomy circumstances so that they feel they have the right to be gloomy. They are therefore always extremely and persistently busy. They mainly take pleasure in casting their gloomy, obstinate activity in the face of any cheerful aspect of life they happen to come across. Such people are extremely unhappy; they have to understand that they are the cause of their own unhappiness." Leo Tolstoy
"The path of self-correction is truly hard, but it is not difficult in itself as such as in the fact that we have indulged in vices for such a long time. And it is these vices that stand in the way of being able to better ourselves. How much we suffer as a result of this conflict depends on how deeply ingrained these vices have become in us. Not that God has imposed this conflict upon us: it would not exist if there were no vices. The cause of the conflict lies, therefore, in our own lack of perfection. And yet, at the same time, our salvation is to be found in this conflict, and if God were to relieve us of it, our vices would remain with us unfortunate people for ever." Blaise Pascal, Thoughts (1669)
"As far the important questions in life are concerned, we are always alone, and the real story of our lives can hardly ever be understood by other people. The best part of the drama that is being played out within us consists of a monologue - or, more precisely, a heartfelt conversation between God, our conscience and our selves." Henri-Frédéric Amiel, Private Journal (1883)
"Those who think only of themselves and seek advantage for themselves in everything cannot be happy. If you wish to live for yourself, then live for others" Seneca, Moral letters to Lucilius (65 AD)
Much of the quotes were from Tolstoy himself and conveyed his own values. His view on religion gave me a new perspective on God in the modern world; your inner voice speaking in terms of wisdom you have collected from the outside world. He thought today's church to be corrupted and have left the principles so laid out by Jesus and embraced wisdom from all parts of the world and all its religions into his faith, making his view of God broader than the singular view of the traditional Christian. Living in the late 19th century however he still had some views regarding women which has not aged well.
Many of the thoughts on philosophy and morality were greatly inspiring. These five quotes combined capture the essence of what I found important and will take with me from the book:
"It is said that people's greatest blessing is their freedom. If freedom is indeed a blessing then someone who is free cannot be unhappy. In other words, if you see someone who is unhappy, suffering and moaning about something, you will know that that person is not free, and is enslaved by one person or another in one way or another.
If freedom is indeed a blessing then a free person cannot be enslaved against his will. So if you see someone humiliating himself in front of another person and fawning on him, you will know that that person isn't free either. He is a slave, because he is wanting food, looking for some advantageous position or seeking in general to take advantage of something that does not belong to him." Epictetus, Discourses (108 AD)
"There are people who deliberately place themselves in extremely gloomy circumstances so that they feel they have the right to be gloomy. They are therefore always extremely and persistently busy. They mainly take pleasure in casting their gloomy, obstinate activity in the face of any cheerful aspect of life they happen to come across. Such people are extremely unhappy; they have to understand that they are the cause of their own unhappiness." Leo Tolstoy
"The path of self-correction is truly hard, but it is not difficult in itself as such as in the fact that we have indulged in vices for such a long time. And it is these vices that stand in the way of being able to better ourselves. How much we suffer as a result of this conflict depends on how deeply ingrained these vices have become in us. Not that God has imposed this conflict upon us: it would not exist if there were no vices. The cause of the conflict lies, therefore, in our own lack of perfection. And yet, at the same time, our salvation is to be found in this conflict, and if God were to relieve us of it, our vices would remain with us unfortunate people for ever." Blaise Pascal, Thoughts (1669)
"As far the important questions in life are concerned, we are always alone, and the real story of our lives can hardly ever be understood by other people. The best part of the drama that is being played out within us consists of a monologue - or, more precisely, a heartfelt conversation between God, our conscience and our selves." Henri-Frédéric Amiel, Private Journal (1883)
"Those who think only of themselves and seek advantage for themselves in everything cannot be happy. If you wish to live for yourself, then live for others" Seneca, Moral letters to Lucilius (65 AD)
victorianvalkyrie's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
2.5
longlivecthulhu's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
rtwilliams16's review against another edition
3.0
A good source of wisdom quotes from Tolstoy and others. Several quotes with a common theme are featured for each day of the year.
mscoutj's review against another edition
2.0
A collection that Tolstoy put together from many of the world's faiths and philosophical schools, it was a little less than advertised. Each month had a theme. Fair enough, but that meant about 30 days of repetitive pablum. In some cases, he quotes the original source as well as two or three different paraphrases of the same quote from different sources.
ivana's review against another edition
As Tolstoy says in this very book, you should read only books that you gain something from. I don't believe I'm gaining much from reading this one, sadly.