What men live by, Leo Tolstoy

Quotes: 

'We give but why does nobody give us anything?' Simon did not know what to say; so he only said, 'let us stop talking', and turned over and went to sleep'.

'Living as he does, how should he not grow strong?' Death itself can't touch a rock as that'.

'...Michael was now living his sixth year with Simon. He lived as before. he went nowhere, only spoke when necessary, and had only smiled twice in all those years - once when Matryonea gave him food, and a second time when the gentleman was in their hut... [Simon] never now asked him where he came from, and only feared lest Michael should go away'.

'In dying, she had rolled on to this child and crushed her leg'.

...when suddenly the whole hut was lighted up as though by summer lightning from the corner where Michael sat. they all looked towards him and saw him sitting, his hands folded on his knees, gazing upwards and smiling'.

'Tell me, Michael, why does your face shine so, and why did you smile those three times?'

'God sent me to learn three truths and I have learnt them. One I learnt when your wife pitied me, and that is why I smiled the first time. The second I learnt when the rich man ordered the boots and then I smiled again. And now, when I saw these little girls, I learnt the third and last truth, and I smiled the third time.

'And God said - Go - take the mother's soul and learn three truths - Learn what dwells in man, what is not given to man, and what men live by'

'The man is making preparations for a year and does not know that he will die before evening'

'I have learnt that all men live not by care for themselves, but by love'

'And all men live not by the thought they spend on their own welfare, but because love exists in man'.

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