--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I have now understood that though it…" description: "\"I have now understood that though it seems to men that they live by care for themselves, in truth it is love alone by which they live. He who has love,..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c32/leo-tolstoy-55_alone-in-love_i-have-now-understood-that-though-it-see_2896565.jpg" --- # I have now understood that though it seems to men that… ![“I have now understood that though it seems to men that they live by care for themselves, in truth it is love alone by which they live. He who has love, is in God, and God is in him, for God is love.” quote by Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c32/leo-tolstoy-55_alone-in-love_i-have-now-understood-that-though-it-see_2896565.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c32/leo-tolstoy-55_alone-in-love_i-have-now-understood-that-though-it-see_2896565.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c32/leo-tolstoy-55_alone-in-love_i-have-now-understood-that-though-it-see_2896565.jpg) > “I have now understood that though it seems to men that they live by care for themselves, in truth it is love alone by which they live. He who has love, is in God, and God is in him, for God is love.” [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Love is the sole force that sustains life; it resides within God and us. **In simple terms:** Love is the core of life and divinity. Key Takeaway Cultivate love as divine connection. Themes love divinity existence Mood hopeful reflective Type philosophical spiritual When to use this quote - marriage - friendship - community service - personal growth Key Concepts spirituality philosophy Questions to Reflect On - How does love manifest in daily life? - Can love replace material support? A Different Perspective Love alone may not meet practical needs. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Alone in love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alone-in-love/) [Care](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/care/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Love & life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love-life-2/) [Love Alone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love-alone/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) ## Related quotes > [Loving with human love, one may pass from love to hatred; but divine love cannot change. Nothing, not even death, can shatter it. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/loving-with-human-love-one-may-pass-from-love-to-hatred-but-divine/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [“I have now understood that though it seems to men that they live by care for themselves, in truth it is love alone by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-have-now-understood-that-though-it-seems-to-men-that-they-live-by/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [A Christian knows when it is time to speak of God and when it is better to say nothing and to let love alone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-benedict-xvi/a-christian-knows-when-it-is-time-to-speak-of-god-and-when-it-is/) [Pope Benedict XVI](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-benedict-xvi/) > [Love alone is the only reasonable activity or pursuit of humankind…Fo r Love not only annihilates our fear of meaninglessness but empowers us to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/love-alone-is-the-only-reasonable-activity-or-pursuit-of-humankind-fo/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [It is love alone that counts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/therese-of-lisieux/it-is-love-alone-that-counts/) [Therese of Lisieux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/therese-of-lisieux/) > [Intellect in its effort to explain Love got stuck in the mud like an ass. Love alone could explain love and loving.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rumi/intellect-in-its-effort-to-explain-love-got-stuck-in-the-mud-like-an/) [Rumi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rumi/) > [To be lovingly present through the primal, naked pain that marks aspects of birth, and to be lovingly present through the difficult, heart-wrenching ending…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-wright/to-be-lovingly-present-through-the-primal-naked-pain-that-marks/) [Amy Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-wright/) > [One can't live on love alone; and I am so stupid that I can do nothing but think of him.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophia-tolstaya/one-can-t-live-on-love-alone-and-i-am-so-stupid-that-i-can-do-nothing/) [Sophia Tolstaya](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophia-tolstaya/) > [Love alone is not enough. Without imagination, love stales into sentiment, duty, boredom. Relationships fail not because we have stopped loving but because we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-hillman/love-alone-is-not-enough-without-imagination-love-stales-into/) [James Hillman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-hillman/) > [Faith means the fundamental response to the love that has offered itself up for me. It thus becomes clear that faith is ordered primarily…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hans-urs-von-balthasar/faith-means-the-fundamental-response-to-the-love-that-has-offered/) [Hans Urs von Balthasar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-urs-von-balthasar/) > [Thus you may understand that love alone is the true seed of every merit in you, and of all acts for which you must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dante-alighieri/thus-you-may-understand-that-love-alone-is-the-true-seed-of-every/) [Dante Alighieri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dante-alighieri/) > [You will find out that Charity is a heavy burden to carry, heavier than the kettle of soup and the full basket. But you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-will-find-out-that-charity-is-a-heavy-burden-to-carry-heavier/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I know that each one of us travels to love alone, alone to faith and to death. I know it. I've tried it. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-know-that-each-one-of-us-travels-to-love-alone-alone-to-faith-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Love alone can explain the mysteries of Love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rumi/love-alone-can-explain-the-mysteries-of-love/) [Rumi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rumi/) > [The world is a wonderfully weird place, consensual reality is significantly flawed, no institution can be trusted, certainty is a mirage, security a delusion,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/the-world-is-a-wonderfully-weird-place-consensual-reality-is/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) ## More by Leo Tolstoy > [These joys were so trifling as to be as imperceptible as grains of gold among the sand, and in moments of depression she saw…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/these-joys-were-so-trifling-as-to-be-as-imperceptible-as-grains-of/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [The only significance of life consists in helping to establish the kingdom of God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/the-only-significance-of-life-consists-in-helping-to-establish-the/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [“I already love in you your beauty, but I am only beginning to love in you that which is eternal and ever precious –…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/i-already-love-in-you-your-beauty-but-i-am-only-beginning-to-love-in/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [Energy rests upon love; and come as it will, there's no forcing it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/energy-rests-upon-love-and-come-as-it-will-there-s-no-forcing-it/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [“If you only knew what those society women are, and women in general! My father is right. Selfish, vain, stupid, trivial in everything—that's what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/if-you-only-knew-what-those-society-women-are-and-women-in-general-my/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [To evoke in oneself a feeling one has once experienced, and having evoked it in oneself, then by means of movements, lines, colors, sounds,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/to-evoke-in-oneself-a-feeling-one-has-once-experienced-and-having/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [To speak of it would be giving importance to that which has none.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/to-speak-of-it-would-be-giving-importance-to-that-which-has-none/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [Once we're thrown off our habitual paths, we think all is lost, but it's only here that the new and the good begins.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/once-we-re-thrown-off-our-habitual-paths-we-think-all-is-lost-but-it/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [“He knew she was there by the rapture and the terror that seized on his heart. She was standing talking to a lady at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/he-knew-she-was-there-by-the-rapture-and-the-terror-that-seized-on/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [Rest, nature, books, music...such is my idea of happiness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/rest-nature-books-music-such-is-my-idea-of-happiness/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [“He was not to blame for being born with an irrepressible charachter and a mind some how constrained.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/he-was-not-to-blame-for-being-born-with-an-irrepressible-charachter/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [I ask one thing only: I ask for the right to hope, to suffer as I do. But if even that cannot be, command…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/i-ask-one-thing-only-i-ask-for-the-right-to-hope-to-suffer-as-i-do/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [The idea shared by many that life is a vale of tears is just as false as the idea shared by the great majority,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/the-idea-shared-by-many-that-life-is-a-vale-of-tears-is-just-as-false/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [To say that a work of art is good, but incomprehensible to the majority of men, is the same as saying of some kind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/to-say-that-a-work-of-art-is-good-but-incomprehensible-to-the/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [True life is lived when tiny changes occur.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/true-life-is-lived-when-tiny-changes-occur/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) [Explore all 1,754 Leo Tolstoy quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) ## More Alone in love quotes > [The world is a wonderfully weird place, consensual reality is significantly flawed, no institution can be trusted, certainty is a mirage, security a delusion,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/the-world-is-a-wonderfully-weird-place-consensual-reality-is/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) > [Love alone can explain the mysteries of Love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rumi/love-alone-can-explain-the-mysteries-of-love/) [Rumi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rumi/) > [I know that each one of us travels to love alone, alone to faith and to death. I know it. I've tried it. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-know-that-each-one-of-us-travels-to-love-alone-alone-to-faith-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [You will find out that Charity is a heavy burden to carry, heavier than the kettle of soup and the full basket. But you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-will-find-out-that-charity-is-a-heavy-burden-to-carry-heavier/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Thus you may understand that love alone is the true seed of every merit in you, and of all acts for which you must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dante-alighieri/thus-you-may-understand-that-love-alone-is-the-true-seed-of-every/) [Dante Alighieri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dante-alighieri/) > [Faith means the fundamental response to the love that has offered itself up for me. It thus becomes clear that faith is ordered primarily…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hans-urs-von-balthasar/faith-means-the-fundamental-response-to-the-love-that-has-offered/) [Hans Urs von Balthasar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-urs-von-balthasar/) > [Love alone is not enough. Without imagination, love stales into sentiment, duty, boredom. Relationships fail not because we have stopped loving but because we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-hillman/love-alone-is-not-enough-without-imagination-love-stales-into/) [James Hillman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-hillman/) > [One can't live on love alone; and I am so stupid that I can do nothing but think of him.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophia-tolstaya/one-can-t-live-on-love-alone-and-i-am-so-stupid-that-i-can-do-nothing/) [Sophia Tolstaya](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophia-tolstaya/) > [To be lovingly present through the primal, naked pain that marks aspects of birth, and to be lovingly present through the difficult, heart-wrenching ending…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-wright/to-be-lovingly-present-through-the-primal-naked-pain-that-marks/) [Amy Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-wright/) > [Intellect in its effort to explain Love got stuck in the mud like an ass. Love alone could explain love and loving.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rumi/intellect-in-its-effort-to-explain-love-got-stuck-in-the-mud-like-an/) [Rumi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rumi/) > [Neither woman nor man lives by work, or love, alone ... The human self defines itself and grows through love and work: All psychology…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betty-friedan/neither-woman-nor-man-lives-by-work-or-love-alone-the-human-self/) [Betty Friedan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betty-friedan/) > [Loving with human love, one may pass from love to hatred; but divine love cannot change. Nothing, not even death, can shatter it. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/loving-with-human-love-one-may-pass-from-love-to-hatred-but-divine/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [He (Tesla) was 84, and he died in a hotel, completely broke and alone. In love with a pigeon. This is a nightmare. I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/duncan-trussell/he-tesla-was-84-and-he-died-in-a-hotel-completely-broke-and-alone-in/) [Duncan Trussell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/duncan-trussell/) > [It is love alone that counts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/therese-of-lisieux/it-is-love-alone-that-counts/) [Therese of Lisieux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/therese-of-lisieux/) > [Retaliation is counter-poison and poison breeds more poison. The nectar of Love alone can destroy the poison of hate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/retaliation-is-counter-poison-and-poison-breeds-more-poison-the/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) [Browse all 67 Alone in love quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alone-in-love/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I have now understood that though it seems to men that they live by care for themselves, in truth it is love alone by which they live. He who has love, is in God, and God is in him, for God is love.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Leo Tolstoy" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/i-have-now-understood-that-though-it-seems-to-men-that-they-live-by-2/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Alone in love" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/i-have-now-understood-that-though-it-seems-to-men-that-they-live-by-2/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c32/leo-tolstoy-55_alone-in-love_i-have-now-understood-that-though-it-see_2896565.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c32/leo-tolstoy-55_alone-in-love_i-have-now-understood-that-though-it-see_2896565.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c32/leo-tolstoy-55_alone-in-love_i-have-now-understood-that-though-it-see_2896565.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I have now understood that though it seems to men that they live by care for themselves, in truth it is love…” — Leo Tolstoy", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Leo Tolstoy", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I have now understood that though...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/i-have-now-understood-that-though-it-seems-to-men-that-they-live-by-2/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/i-have-now-understood-that-though-it-seems-to-men-that-they-live-by-2/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```