A Note on the Translation

This translation uses the text of the academic edition of Tolstoy’s Collected Works (Moscow, 1957) in 90 volumes (volumes 41 and 42), which is based the second edition of the Circle of Reading, published in 1908.¹

This translation includes the complete set of Tolstoy’s thoughts and selected quotations for all of the 366 days of the year (including February 29 for leap years), but excludes the weekly readings—longer pieces to be read at the end of each week. The weekly readings are mostly extracts from famous works, including those of Tolstoy himself. The length of these readings puts them outside the scope of the initial release of this project.

For English quotations I have tried to track down the original texts, but, as this has not always been possible, a significant portion of these quotations has been translated by me back into English from Tolstoy’s Russian.

Each day is structured as a sequence of quotations. The opening and closing thoughts are likely Tolstoy’s (with a couple of cited exceptions). Unmarked thoughts may or may not be Tolstoy’s. Italicized passages are thoughts that Tolstoy highlighted as being especially important.