“ Every violent reform deserves censure, for it quite fails to remedy evil while men remain what they are, and also because wisdom needs no violence. ”
Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace (1869). copy citation
| Author | Leo Tolstoy |
|---|---|
| Source | War and Peace |
| Topic | wisdom violence |
| Date | 1869 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2600/2600-h/2600-h.htm |
Context
“But in these great endeavors we are gravely hampered by the political institutions of today. What is to be done in these circumstances? To favor revolutions, overthrow everything, repel force by force?... No! We are very far from that. Every violent reform deserves censure, for it quite fails to remedy evil while men remain what they are, and also because wisdom needs no violence.
“The whole plan of our order should be based on the idea of preparing men of firmness and virtue bound together by unity of conviction—aiming at the punishment of vice and folly, and patronizing talent and virtue:”
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