Inspirational Leo Quotes & Sayings

You can love a person dear to you with a human love, but an enemy can only be loved with divine love. — Leo Tolstoy

The easiest thing to be in the world is you. The most difficult thing to be is what other people want you to be. Don't let them put you in that position. — Leo Buscaglia

The hardest battle you are ever going to have to fight is the battle to be just you. — Leo Buscaglia

It is my desire, by my presence and with my words, to pay tribute to your tireless work in defending and fostering the inviolability of innocent and defenseless human life from the moment of conception until the moment of natural death. — Raymond Leo Burke

Zach found himself remembering something he'd heard Soledad and Leo saying the previous night, about healing. That it was mysterious. That it took time. And that Lucy was just at the beginning. That a terrible thing had happened - two terrible things, really - but they were now over.
And that Lucy would be okay, in the end. — Nancy Werlin

What she did not know, and would never have believed, was that though her soul seemed to have been grown over with an impenetrable layer of mould, some delicate blades of grass, young and tender, were already pushing their way upwards, destined to take root and send out living shoots so effectively that her all-consuming grief would soon be lost and forgotten. The wound was healing from inside. — Leo Tolstoy

It is the foregiver who is freed in foregiving. — Leo Buscaglia

I understood why Leo called the fountain Baby Niagara. Because once you see something big, you can't help seeing it in everything small. — Ally Condie

We don't love to be loved in return; we love to love. — Leo Buscaglia

When you feel the desire for power, you should stay in solitude for some time — Leo Tolstoy

It was in the hands of two ministers, one lady, and two Jews, and all these people, though the way had been paved already with them, Stepan Arkadyevitch had to see in Petersburg. — Leo Tolstoy

I came to believe it not true that "the
coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave man
only one." I think it is the other way around:
It is the brave who die a thousand deaths.
For it is imagination, and not just conscience,
which doth make cowards of us all. Those
who do not know fear are not truly brave.
— Leo Rosten

What the mind can believe, the body will achieve — Leo King

Il ne faut jamais rien outrer: One should never overdo — Leo Tolstoy

Each of our acts makes a statement as to our purpose. — Leo Buscaglia

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. — Leo Buscaglia

Nothing lasts forever. But the thing is, you can reuse some. Use your mind. - Leo's Mother, The Lost Hero — Rick Riordan

No, life is not over at thirty-one! Prince Andrei suddenly decided finally and decisively. — Leo Tolstoy

What is important is not the length of life, but the depth of life. What is important is not to make life longer, but to take your soul out of time, as every sublime act does — Leo Tolstoy

Very often, all the activity of the human mind is directed not in revealing the truth, but in hiding the truth — Leo Tolstoy

A person who has spoiled his stomach will criticize his meal saying that the food is bad; the same thing happens with people who are not satisfied with their lives — Leo Tolstoy

Love those you hate you. — Leo Tolstoy

Only people who are capable of loving strongly can also suffer great sorrow, but this same necessity of loving serves to counteract their grief and heals them. — Leo Tolstoy

My life came to a standstill. I could breathe, eat, drink and sleep, and I could not help doing these things; but there was no life, for there were no wishes the fulfilment of which I could consider reasonable. If I desired anything, I knew in advance that whether I satisfied my desire or not, nothing would come of it. Had a fairy come and offered to fulfil my desires I should not have known what to ask. If in moments of intoxication I felt something which, though not a wish, was a habit left by former wishes, in sober moments I knew this to be a delusion and that there was really nothing to wish for. I could not even wish to know the truth, for I guess of what it consisted. The truth was that life is meaningless. — Leo Tolstoy

The true meaning of Christ's teaching consists in the recognition of love as the supreme law of life, and therefore not admitting any exceptions. — Leo Tolstoy

Perfection is impossible without humility. Why should I strive for perfection, if I am already good enough? — Leo Tolstoy

When joy disappears, look for your mistake — Leo Tolstoy

We live in this world like a child who enters a room where a clever person is speaking. The child did not hear the beginning of the speech, and he leaves before the end; and there are certain things which he hears but does not understand — Leo Tolstoy

Knowledge is real knowledge only when it is acquired by the efforts of your intellect, not by memory — Leo Tolstoy

I love to think that the day you're born, you're given the world as a birthday present. — Leo Buscaglia

There are scores of people waiting for someone just like us to come along; people who will appreciate our compassion, our encouragement, who will need our unique talents. Someone who will live a happier life merely because we took the time to share what we had to give. — Leo Buscaglia

Where there is love, there is God also. — Leo Tolstoy

Man cannot possess anything as long as he fears death. But to him who does not fear it, everything belongs. If there was no suffering, man would not know his limits, would not know himself. — Leo Tolstoy

People jump back and forth in pursuit of pleasures only because they see the emptiness of their lives more clearly than they do the emptiness of whichever new entertainment attracts them — Leo Tolstoy

Ah, if everyone was as sensitive as you! There's no girl who hasn't gone through that. And it's all so unimportant! — Leo Tolstoy

Most of us remain strangers to ourselves, hiding who we are, and ask other strangers, hiding who they are, to love us. — Leo Buscaglia

It's not over, is it?" Silver said quietly to Leo, as they floated out of Minchenko's way. "Somehow I thought our troubles would be over if only we could get away from Mr. Van Atta."
Leo shook his head. A jubilant grin still kept crooking up the corner of his mouth. He took one of her upper hands.
"Our troubles would have been over if Brucie-Baby had scored a hit. Or if the vortex mirror had blown up in the middle of the jump. Or if- Don't be afraid of trouble, Silver. They're a sign of life. We'll deal with them together - tomorrow". — Lois McMaster Bujold

We created time, and now we have become the slave of time. — Leo Buscaglia

If a man does not work at necessary and good things, then he will work at unnecessary and stupid things — Leo Tolstoy

Seize the moments of happiness, love and be loved! That is the only reality in the world, all else is folly. It is the one thing we are interested in here. — Leo Tolstoy

It is pride that makes error and discord among men. — Leo Tolstoy

We both have a lot of growing-up to do ... A lot of the world to see & figure out on our own.
Leo — Emily Giffin

I led the life of so many other so-called respectable people, - that is, in debauchery. And like the majority, while leading the life of a debauche, I was convinced that I was a man of irreproachable morality. — Leo Tolstoy

Fantastic things happen - to the way we feel, to the way we make other people feel. All this simply by using positive words. — Leo Buscaglia

Everyone, in some small sacred sanctuary of the self, is nuts. — Leo Rosten

A battle is won by him who is firmly resolved to win it. — Leo Tolstoy

The fact that I can plant a seed and it becomes a flower, share a bit of knowledge and it becomes another's, smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercises. — Leo Buscaglia

I feel that I am entitled to my share of lightheartedness and there is nothing wrong with enjoying one's self simply, like a boy. — Leo Tolstoy

It is not enough to be a hardworking person. Think: what do you work at? — Leo Tolstoy

Il ne faut jamais rien outrer: One must do nothing in excess — Leo Tolstoy

Life did not stop, and one had to live. — Leo Tolstoy

Stop waiting for the right person to come into your life. Be the right person to come to someone's life — Leo Babauta

Read less, study less, but think more — Leo Tolstoy

If there is a God and future life, there is truth and good, and man's highest happiness consists in striving to attain them. We must live, we must love, and we must believe that we live not only today on this scrap of earth, but have lived and shall live — Leo Tolstoy

Perhaps it's because I appreciate all I have so much that I don't worry about what I haven't got. — Leo Tolstoy

Art can compel people freely, gladly, and spontaneously to sacrifice themselves in the service of man. — Leo Tolstoy

Tell her I'm sorry I sold the diamond, eh?" Sammy said. "I broke my promise. When she disappeared in Alaska ... ah, so long ago, I finally used that diamond, moved to Texas as I always dreamed. I started my machine shop. Started my family! It was a good life, but Haze; was right. The diamond came with a curse. I never saw her again."
"Oh, Sammy," Hazel said. "No, a curse didn't keep me away. I wanted to come back. I died!"
The old man didn't seem to hear. He smiled down at the baby, and kissed him on the head. "I give you my blessing, Leo. First male great-grandchild! I have a feeling you are special, like Hazel was. You are more than a regular baby, eh? You will carry on for me. You will see her someday. Tell her hello for me. — Rick Riordan

The more we live by our intellect, the less we understand the meaning of life. — Leo Tolstoy

If you want to be happy, be" -- Leo Tolstoy
"The hard part is knowing it's easy" -- Abraham Hicks — Ina Zajac

Ninety per-cent of what we worry about never happens, yet we worry and worry. What a horrible way to go through life! What a horrible thing to do to your colon! — Leo Buscaglia

He was not thinking that the Christian law which he had wanted to follow all his life prescribed that he forgive and love his enemies; but the joyful feeling of love and forgiveness of his enemies filled his soul. — Leo Tolstoy

Now I say that I know the meaning of my life:"To live for God, for my soul." And this meaning, in spite of its clearness, is mysterious and marvelous. Such, indeed, is the meaning of everything existing.(12-7) — Leo Tolstoy

Only when we give joyfully, without hesitation or thought of gain, can we truly know what love means. — Leo Buscaglia

Your talent is God's gift to you. — Leo Buscaglia

If we would only testify to the truth as we see it, it would turn out that there are hundreds, thousands, even millions of other people just as we are, who see the truth as we do ... and are only waiting, again as we are, for someone to proclaim it. The Kingdom of God is within you. — Leo Tolstoy

People involve themselves in countless activities which they consider to be important, but they forget about one activity which is more important and necessary than any other, and which includes all other things: the improvement of their soul — Leo Tolstoy