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Source identified
“truth is truth only when it is in action”

Leo Tolstoy

Source
My Religion
Date
1885
Attribution
Source identified
English wording
Huntington Smith — Translator · from Russian
Meaning

What does this quote mean?

Tolstoy argues that truth becomes socially consequential when embodied in conduct rather than remaining only an inward opinion or abstract proposition.

Source context

Where does it come from?

My Religion, Chapter XII; Huntington Smith translation, represented 1885 Crowell edition, Project Gutenberg #43794. In the concluding chapter Tolstoy argues that truth becomes transmissible when embodied in action and brought to individual conscience; the explicitly Christian and social context remains visible.

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Attribution

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