Biographie

Was notoriously impossible to interview and hated dealing with the public. He was especially wary of the new invention of the movie camera in the early 20th century. Reporters would hide out and try to ambush him. One such reporter, much like the others, hid out for 3 days waiting to ambush him on the way home with his family. Instead of succeeding he accidentally broke his film camera which literally brought him to tears. Taking pity on the man Tolstoy helped him take his camera to a blacksmith shop to repair it after which he agreed to being filmed. This started a relationship of the only man ever allowed to film Tolstoy.

Was probably the first writer to have groupies. Toward the end of his life there were nearly one hundred fans living in and around his home just so they could experience his greatness firsthand.

Tolstoy was a direct descendant of Genghis Khan, through the marriage of Prince Fyodor of Yaroslavl to Anna of the Tatars, a great-great-great-granddaughter of the Khan.

Forced his wife to read his diaries of his bachelor escapades (he was 34, she was 18 when they married). She bore him 13 children, 7 of whom survived to adulthood.

His conversion from a dissolute and privileged society author to the non-violent and spiritual anarchist of his latter days was brought about by his experience in the army as well as two trips around Europe in 1857 and 1860-61. Others who followed the same path were Alexander Herzen, Mikhail Bakunin and Peter Kropotkin. During his 1857 visit, Tolstoy witnessed a public execution in Paris, a traumatic experience that would mark the rest of his life. Writing in a letter to his friend Vasily Botkin: "The truth is that the State is a conspiracy designed not only to exploit, but above all to corrupt its citizens ... Henceforth, I shall never serve any government anywhere.".

All violence consists in some people forcing others, under threat of suffering or death, to do what they do not want to do.

Boredom: the desire for desires.

It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness.

Love is life. All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. Everything is, everything exists, only because I love. Everything is united by it alone. Love is God, and to die means that I, a particle of love, shall return to the general and eternal source.

The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity.