What does this quote mean?

“The motor power of his life is love.”

Within Tolstoy’s three-part account of life, the divine conception is motivated by love rather than personal enjoyment or social glory.

Source note: The Kingdom of God Is Within You, Chapter IV; Constance Garnett translation, Project Gutenberg #43302. In Tolstoy’s threefold account of animal, social and divine conceptions of life, the divine conception is governed by love and directed toward God rather than personal enjoyment or social glory.

“life is the end and aim of consumption.”

Consumption is judged by what it ultimately does for human life, making economic activity a means rather than an end in itself within Ruskin’s argument.

Source note: Unto This Last, fourth essay; Project Gutenberg #36541. The line follows Ruskin’s distinction between production and consumption and retains the nineteenth-century political-economy setting.

“It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.”

Giving becomes deeper when it includes time, attention, effort, and presence rather than possessions alone.

Source note: The Prophet, “On Giving.”

“If I can stop one Heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain.”

A meaningful life is measured through alleviating even one person’s suffering rather than through scale or fame.

Source note: Opening line of the poem.

“The more did I love them, and the easier it became for me to live.”

Understanding ordinary people and their lives changes Tolstoy’s relation to existence: growing sympathy makes life more bearable by replacing detached judgment with human connection.

Source note: My Confession, Leo Wiener translation; Tolstoy describes how closer attention to living and departed people increased his affection for them and altered his ability to live.

“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it to anyone else.”

Usefulness is defined through reducing another person’s burden, making service a direct measure of value.

Source note: Book III, Chapter 9.