Named source · 1894

The Kingdom of God Is Within You Quotes by Leo Tolstoy: Context & Meanings

3 quotations linked to The Kingdom of God Is Within You by or associated with Leo Tolstoy, with source notes, explanations and related topics.

More by Leo Tolstoy

About this source

Christian moral and social treatise; represented 1894 English translation

Topics and ideas

Freedom, conscience, love, nonviolence, moral responsibility, truth and the conflict Tolstoy sees between Christian teaching and coercive institutions.

English wording

Translation

Constance Garnett — Translator · Russian → English

The wording shown here follows the represented English edition or translation.

Why the edition matters

Translations and editions can differ in wording, punctuation and emphasis, so the source attached to each quotation matters when exact phrasing is important.

Read the source

Open a public or archival text connected with these quotations

Use these links when you want to inspect the wording in its wider work or edition.

Primary / edition source · gutenberg.org ↗ Primary / edition source · gutenberg.org ↗

Represented passages

3 quotations with source context and meaning

Source identified1

Read & copy

“The motor power of his life is love.”

Leo Tolstoy

Meaning & context

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

Source details

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.

↓ Download image (JPG)

Source identified2

Read & copy

“Though asleep, the conscience is there”

Leo Tolstoy

Meaning & context

Tolstoy argues that social conditioning can suppress moral awareness without eliminating it, leaving open the possibility that conscience can reawaken.

Source details

The Kingdom of God Is Within You, Chapter XII; Constance Garnett translation, Project Gutenberg #43302. In the concluding chapter Tolstoy discusses soldiers, authority, hypnotic social conditioning and moral responsibility, arguing that conscience may be put to sleep without being destroyed.

↓ Download image (JPG)

Source identified3

Read & copy

“Man's freedom lies in the power of this choice.”

Leo Tolstoy

Meaning & context

Tolstoy locates a limited but meaningful freedom in whether a person recognizes and acts upon the truth they believe they have understood.

Source details

The Kingdom of God Is Within You, Chapter XII; Constance Garnett translation, Project Gutenberg #43302. In the concluding chapter Tolstoy locates human freedom in the recognition or rejection of truth already revealed to conscience; the sentence states that freedom lies in this choice.

↓ Download image (JPG)

Christian moral and social treatise; represented 1894 English translation

Topics and ideas

Translation

Constance Garnett — Translator · Russian → English

Why the edition matters

Open a public or archival text connected with these quotations

Prominent ideas connected with the quotations represented here

3 quotations with source context and meaning

Continue through other sources by Leo Tolstoy