“The happiness of men consists in life. And life is in labor.”

— Leo Tolstoy, What Is To Be Done? (1886), Ch. 38

About Leo Tolstoy

1828 – 1910

Russian novelist and moral philosopher, author of 'War and Peace' and 'Anna Karenina'.

“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

“Art is a human activity having for its purpose the transmission to others of the highest and best feelings to which men have risen.”

“Everything comes in time to him who knows how to wait.”

“Why does this magnificent applied science which saves work and makes life easier bring us so little happiness?”

“We think a happy life consists in tranquility of mind.”

“The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved.”

“Life grants nothing to us mortals without hard work.”

“Human happiness consists in living according to reason.”

“In this life we get nothing save by effort.”