Years ago Quote by Leo Tolstoy
““How horrified he would have been if, seven years ago, when he had just come from abroad, someone had told him that there was no need to seek or invent anything, that his rut had long been carved out for him and determined from all eternity, and that, however he twisted and turned, he would be that which everybody was in his position. He could not have believed it. Had he not wished with all his soul to establish a republic in Russia, then to become a Napoleon himself, a philosopher, a tactician, the defeater of Napoleon? Had he not seen the possibility and passionately wished to transform depraved mankind and bring his own self to the highest degree of perfection? ... He sometimes comforted himself with the thought that he happened to be leading his life just so, in the meantime; but then he would be horrified by another thought, that it was just so, in the meantime, that so many people had entered this life, this club, as he had, with all their teeth and hair, and come out of it with not a single tooth or hair left.””
About This Quote
Source Novel: War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy, 1869
He feared that destiny would confine him to a predetermined role, denying his ambitions for greatness and transformation.
In simple terms: Fear of a fixed destiny limits ambition.
Question your assumptions about destiny.
Themes
Mood
Type
When to use this quote
- career aspirations
- political activism
- philosophical self‑development
Key Concepts
Questions to Reflect On
- What would you do if you believed your path was pre‑written?
- How can you balance ambition with acceptance?
Such fatalism can paralyze action and ignore agency.