Tolstoy, Leo Nikolayevich

(1828-1910)

Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy was born August 28,1828 (old style) at his family's estate at Yasnaya Polyana. His parents died when he was a child, and he was brought up by relatives. In 1844 Tolstoy started his studies of law and oriental languages atKazan University, but he never took a degree. Dissatisfied with the standard of education, he returned in the middle of his studies back to Yasnaya Polyana, and then spent much of his time in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
After contracting heavy gambling debts, Tolstoy accompanied in 1851 his elder brother to the Caucasus, and joined an artillery regiment. During the Crimean War Tolstoy commanded a battery, witnessing the siege of Sebastopol (1854-55). In 1857 he visited France, Switzerland, and Germany to learn more about society and how to reform it. After his travels Tolstoy settled in Yasnaja Polyana, where he started a school for peasant children. He saw that the secret of changing the world lay in education. He investigated during further travels to Europe (1860-61) educational theory and practice, and published magazines and textbooks on the subject. In 1862 he married Sonya Andreyevna Behrs (1844-1919).Sonya also acted as her husband's devoted secretary. Tolstoy died of pneumonia on November 7 (Nov. 20, New Style) in 1910, at a remote railway junction.

His works

War and Peace (1865--1872)

Anna Karenina (1875--1876)

The Death of Ivan Ilych (1886)

The Forged Coupon and Other Stories

A Confession (1882--1884)

Twenty-Three Tales (1905)

Exiled to Siberia (1887)

The Kreutzer Sonata and Other Stories (1890)

Master and Man

Father Sergius
Etc.

Some quotes by Leo, Count Tolstoy

All happy families resemble one another; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
Anna Karénina. Part i. Chap. i.
There is one evident, indubitable manifestation of the Divinity, and that is the laws of right which are made known to theworld through Revelation.
Anna Karénina. Part viii. Chap. xix.
Error is the force that welds men together; truth is communicated to men only by deeds of truth.

My Religion. Chap. xii.

The happiness of men consists in life. And life is in labor.
What is to be done? Chap. xxxviii.

The vocation of every man and woman is to serve other people.
What is to be done? Chap. xl. Note.
The only significance of life consists in helping to establish the kingdom of God; and this can be done onlyby means of the acknowledgment and profession of the truth by each one of us.
The Kingdom of God. Chap. xii.
Art is a human activity having for its purpose the transmission to others of the highest and best feelings to which men have risen.
What is Art? Chap. viii.

Taken from:

http://books.mirror.org/gb.tolstoy.html
www.online-literature.com/tolstoy