Leo Tolstoy
Circle of Reading
Translated by Dmitry Fadeyev

September 30

The more time a person spends alone, the more he hears the voice of God that is always calling him.

1

Silentium!

Be silent, hidden and conceal
Your sentiments and your ideal!
And deep within your spirit let
Your thoughts and dreams to rise and set,
Like stars on a bespangled night:
Be silent and admire their flight!

How can a heart express itself?
How can another see your self?
Would he perceive what you live by?
An uttered thought is but a lie.
Dig not or you’ll befoul the fount:
Be silent and assuage your want!

Learn how to lead an inner life:
There is a universe that’s rife
With thoughts magnificent within;
They will be drowned by outer din,
Or blinded by rays of daytime:
Be silent and hear the sublime.

— Tyutchev

2

Merely saying a good intention out loud already weakens your desire to fulfill it. But how can you hold back from expressing the nobly smug impulses of youth? Only much later, as you recall them, you regret them like an unbloomed flower you could not restrain yourself from picking, which you afterwards saw on the ground, withered and trampled.

3

We are always alone in the important questions of life, and our true history can almost never be understood by others. The best part of the drama taking place in our soul is a monologue, or rather, a heartfelt discussion between God, our conscience and us.

— Amiel

4

Pascal says: a human being must die alone. This is also how a human being must live. A human being is always alone in that which is most important in life, i.e. he is not with people, but with God.

5

It is good to be needed by others while not needing a comrade yourself.

6

An immoral person is always connected with people in life, but the more immoral he is, the more lonely he feels. A good and rational person, on the contrary, feels lonely among people, but he is aware of his constant union with humankind when he is alone.


Temporary renunciation from everything worldly and contemplation of your divine essence within yourself is as necessary for the life and nourishment of the soul as food is for the body.

Themes & Sources