--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is terrible when people do not know…" description: "\"It is terrible when people do not know God, but it is worse when people identify as God what is not God.\" — Leo Tolstoy" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7c4/leo-tolstoy-55_infinite_it-is-terrible-when-people-do-not-know-g_923461.png" --- # It is terrible when people do not know God, but it is… ![“It is terrible when people do not know God, but it is worse when people identify as God what is not God.” quote by Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7c4/leo-tolstoy-55_infinite_it-is-terrible-when-people-do-not-know-g_923461.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7c4/leo-tolstoy-55_infinite_it-is-terrible-when-people-do-not-know-g_923461.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7c4/leo-tolstoy-55_infinite_it-is-terrible-when-people-do-not-know-g_923461.png) > “It is terrible when people do not know God, but it is worse when people identify as God what is not God.” [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. Misunderstanding divine nature leads to hubris; true humility respects the sacred. **In simple terms:** Wrongly claiming godhood is dangerous. Key Takeaway Respect true spirituality, avoid false idols. Themes hubris spirituality humility Mood contemplative critical Type philosophical ethical When to use this quote - religious practice - political leadership - personal belief systems Key Concepts theology ego Questions to Reflect On - What does it mean to “identify as God”? - How can humility guide belief? A Different Perspective Blind faith can be as harmful as ignorance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [God Worse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/god-worse-1448182/) [Identify God](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/identify-god-1448183/) [Infinite](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/infinite/) [Know God](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/know-god/) [Knowing god](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowing-god/) [Knows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knows/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Terrible](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/terrible/) [Terrible People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/terrible-people/) [Worse People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/worse-people-383976/) ## Related quotes > [“They want to be the agents, not the victims, of history. They identify with God's power and believe they are godlike. That is their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-k-dick/they-want-to-be-the-agents-not-the-victims-of-history-they-identify/) [Philip K. Dick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-k-dick/) > [Jung was absolutely right about one thing. We are occupied by gods. The mistake is to identify with the god occupying you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ondaatje/jung-was-absolutely-right-about-one-thing-we-are-occupied-by-gods-the/) [Michael Ondaatje](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ondaatje/) > [“If a God tends to reinforce the prejudices in a society instead of diminishing them from the society, then such God is worse than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/if-a-god-tends-to-reinforce-the-prejudices-in-a-society-instead-of/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [Heroes, whatever high ideas we may have of them, are mortal and not divine. 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One can but turn the mind inwards…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramana-maharshi/god-illumines-the-mind-and-shines-within-it-one-cannot-know-god-by/) [Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) > [We cannot really know God if we do not pray.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mother-teresa/we-cannot-really-know-god-if-we-do-not-pray/) [Mother Teresa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mother-teresa/) > [I don't think you can know God unless you're passionate about him so you're either screaming at him, enraptured with the idea of being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-carrey/i-don-t-think-you-can-know-god-unless-you-re-passionate-about-him-so/) [Jim Carrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-carrey/) > [No God, no peace; know God, know peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/croft-m-pentz/no-god-no-peace-know-god-know-peace/) [Croft M. 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I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/i-want-to-know-how-god-created-this-world-i-am-not-interested-in-this/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [What matters supremely, therefore, is not, in the last analysis, the fact that I know God, but the larger fact which underlies it -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-i-packer/what-matters-supremely-therefore-is-not-in-the-last-analysis-the-fact/) [J. I. Packer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-i-packer/) > [We should bathe our spirits in the deep, pure feeling that stirs within us when we gaze on the glories of His creation. This…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paramahansa-yogananda/we-should-bathe-our-spirits-in-the-deep-pure-feeling-that-stirs/) [Paramahansa Yogananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paramahansa-yogananda/) ## 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. 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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 Infinite quotes > [There is no human nature, since there is no god to conceive it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/there-is-no-human-nature-since-there-is-no-god-to-conceive-it/) [Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/) > [The sublime in art is the attempt to express the infinite without finding in the realm of phenomena any object which proves itself fitting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/the-sublime-in-art-is-the-attempt-to-express-the-infinite-without/) [Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/) > [On the brink of being satiated, desire still appears infinite.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-rostand/on-the-brink-of-being-satiated-desire-still-appears-infinite/) [Jean Rostand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-rostand/) > [Man has an almost infinite capacity for taking things and people for granted and thereby missing out on the pleasure of being grateful that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-huxley/man-has-an-almost-infinite-capacity-for-taking-things-and-people-for/) [Aldous Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-huxley/) > [If I have a system it is limited to a recognition of what Kierkegaard called 'the infinite qualitative distinction' between time and eternity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-barth/if-i-have-a-system-it-is-limited-to-a-recognition-of-what-kierkegaard/) [Karl Barth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-barth/) > [It has no future but itself Its infinite contain Its pastenlightened to perceive New periods of pain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-has-no-future-but-itself-its-infinite-contain-its-pastenlightened/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Doctrine tied itself into infinite knots over the realities of sex.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-tuchman/doctrine-tied-itself-into-infinite-knots-over-the-realities-of-sex/) [Barbara Tuchman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-tuchman/) > [A lost love. Deny it who will, ridicule it, treat it as mere imagination and sentiment, the thing is and will be; and women…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dinah-maria-murlock-craik/a-lost-love-deny-it-who-will-ridicule-it-treat-it-as-mere-imagination/) [Dinah Maria Murlock Craik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dinah-maria-murlock-craik/) > [“The God I know is the source of reality, rather than morality; the source of 'what is' rather than the source of 'what ought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/parker-j-palmer/the-god-i-know-is-the-source-of-reality-rather-than-morality-the/) [Parker J. Palmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/parker-j-palmer/) > [The human body has been designed to resist an infinite number of changes and attacks brought about by its environment. 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