“ The life of your individuality cannot be true life, because that life is pitiful and passing. ”
Leo Tolstoy, The Kingdom of God Is Within You (1894). copy citation
Author | Leo Tolstoy |
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Source | The Kingdom of God Is Within You |
Topic | individuality life |
Date | 1894 |
Language | English |
Reference | |
Note | Translated by Constance Garnett |
Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/4602/pg4602-images.html |
Context
“These principles, however, follow from the Christian theory of life, just as logically as the principles of paying a part of one's private gains to the commonwealth and of sacrificing one's life in defense of one's country follow from the state theory of life.
As the man of the stale conception of life said to the savage: Reflect, bethink yourself! The life of your individuality cannot be true life, because that life is pitiful and passing. But the life of a society and succession of individuals, family, clan, tribe, or state, goes on living, and therefore a man must sacrifice his own individuality for the life of the family or the state.”
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