--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: My second sentiment was a craving for…" description: "\"“My second sentiment was a craving for love. I wanted every one to know me and to love me. I wanted to be able to utter my name — Nicola Irtenieff — an..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bc4/leo-tolstoy-55_craving_my-second-sentiment-was-a-craving-for-lo_539013.png" --- # My second sentiment was a craving for love. I wanted every… ![“My second sentiment was a craving for love. I wanted every one to know me and to love me. I wanted to be able to utter my name — Nicola Irtenieff — and at once to see every one thunderstruck at it, and come crowding round me and thanking me for something or another, I hardly knew what.” quote by Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bc4/leo-tolstoy-55_craving_my-second-sentiment-was-a-craving-for-lo_539013.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bc4/leo-tolstoy-55_craving_my-second-sentiment-was-a-craving-for-lo_539013.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bc4/leo-tolstoy-55_craving_my-second-sentiment-was-a-craving-for-lo_539013.png) > ““My second sentiment was a craving for love. I wanted every one to know me and to love me. I wanted to be able to utter my name — Nicola Irtenieff — and at once to see every one thunderstruck at it, and come crowding round me and thanking me for something or another, I hardly knew what.”” [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. The narrator craves fame and love, desiring recognition and admiration, yet feels uncertain about the true meaning of such desires. **In simple terms:** He wants fame and love but is unsure of their value. Key Takeaway Seek authentic connection over shallow fame. Themes loneliness ambition identity recognition Mood introspective melancholic Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - social media - public speaking - creative work - personal branding Key Concepts psychology social validation literature Questions to Reflect On - What does true recognition feel like? - How can one balance desire for love with self‑worth? A Different Perspective Fame can be fleeting and hollow. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Desire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desire/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) ## Related quotes > [“All your wounds from craving love Exist because of heroic deeds.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hafez/all-your-wounds-from-craving-love-exist-because-of-heroic-deeds/) [Hafez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hafez/) > [I have been waiting for u for months why is this so painful janu I miss u so much wish u could feel the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alishakhan/i-have-been-waiting-for-u-for-months-why-is-this-so-painful-janu-i/) [Alishakhan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alishakhan/) > [Longing, craving the love is incomplete. Isiliaanant too, because infinity is not always possible to perfection](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mak-786/longing-craving-the-love-is-incomplete-isiliaanant-too-because/) Mak\_786 > [The notion that I might have been able to court friends, win attention, conjure it, would have spoiled it for me. Unbidden love was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-white/the-notion-that-i-might-have-been-able-to-court-friends-win-attention/) [Edmund White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-white/) > [I wanted to drown inside a woman in the feeling and drooling of the love I could give her. I wanted her pulse to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/markus-zusak/i-wanted-to-drown-inside-a-woman-in-the-feeling-and-drooling-of-the/) [Markus Zusak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/markus-zusak/) > [I didn't want the easy kind of love, I wanted the crazy love, the kind of love that created and destroyed all at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-didn-t-want-the-easy-kind-of-love-i-wanted-the-crazy-love-the-kind/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [If he had one true love, then he wanted you to have one, too.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pittacus-lore/if-he-had-one-true-love-then-he-wanted-you-to-have-one-too/) [Pittacus Lore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pittacus-lore/) > [I didn't want to feel such love for someone else. I still wanted to be the object of that tidal wave.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-huneven/i-didn-t-want-to-feel-such-love-for-someone-else-i-still-wanted-to-be/) [Michelle Huneven](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-huneven/) > [I love you , only you and if I wanted someone else I wouldn't pick you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan/i-love-you-only-you-and-if-i-wanted-someone-else-i-wouldn-t-pick-you/) [Dan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan/) > [“If I had wanted children of my own, I would have gotten married. If I had wanted to get married, I would have fallen…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carroll-bryant/if-i-had-wanted-children-of-my-own-i-would-have-gotten-married-if-i/) [Carroll Bryant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carroll-bryant/) > [“I never wanted a quiet, sensible sort of love. I wanted to be devoured.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beau-taplin/i-never-wanted-a-quiet-sensible-sort-of-love-i-wanted-to-be-devoured/) [Beau Taplin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beau-taplin/) > [“Her parents loved her, there was no question of that, but their love was the sort that filled her suitcase with colors and kept…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seanan-mcguire/her-parents-loved-her-there-was-no-question-of-that-but-their-love/) [Seanan McGuire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seanan-mcguire/) > [“You'd say you didn't want to be just in love, you wanted to be in love in a movie.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victoria-van-tiem/you-d-say-you-didn-t-want-to-be-just-in-love-you-wanted-to-be-in-love/) [Victoria Van Tiem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victoria-van-tiem/) > [“Because way back before you were even born there was this girl you see. And I fell in love with her. It was something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-wiggins/because-way-back-before-you-were-even-born-there-was-this-girl-you/) [Marianne Wiggins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-wiggins/) > [“She was ready to fall in love with someone but she wanted to fall within the right tax bracket.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albie-cullen/she-was-ready-to-fall-in-love-with-someone-but-she-wanted-to-fall/) [Albie Cullen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albie-cullen/) ## 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 Craving quotes > [“The more the soul loves the word, the more craving it has after it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gurnall/the-more-the-soul-loves-the-word-the-more-craving-it-has-after-it/) [William Gurnall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gurnall/) > [By the time they were pulling into the parking lot of the A&P, the mood was fading, the moment gone. Amy could feel it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-strout/by-the-time-they-were-pulling-into-the-parking-lot-of-the-a-p-the/) [Elizabeth Strout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-strout/) > [I dream of a love that is more than two people craving to possess one another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irvin-d-yalom/i-dream-of-a-love-that-is-more-than-two-people-craving-to-possess-one/) [Irvin D. Yalom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irvin-d-yalom/) > [When I look at you all I see is heartbreak waiting to happen. And I can't tell if it's because of love. Or loneliness.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ream/when-i-look-at-you-all-i-see-is-heartbreak-waiting-to-happen-and-i/) [Ream](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ream/) > [People who do not understand themselves have a craving for understanding — a thing which is rather surmised and never spoken than known and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilhelm-stekel/people-who-do-not-understand-themselves-have-a-craving-for/) [Wilhelm Stekel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilhelm-stekel/) > [Pleasure simply brings more craving, but the problem is that we try to get contentment through pleasure. True contentment can only come through service.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sri-sri-ravi-shankar/pleasure-simply-brings-more-craving-but-the-problem-is-that-we-try-to/) [Sri Sri Ravi Shankar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sri-sri-ravi-shankar/) > [I had left home (like all Jewish girls) in order to eat pork and take birth control pills. When I first shared an intimate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roseanne-barr/i-had-left-home-like-all-jewish-girls-in-order-to-eat-pork-and-take/) [Roseanne Barr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roseanne-barr/) > [When we think carefully, we see that the brief elation we experience when appeasing sensual impulses may not be very different from what the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dalai-lama/when-we-think-carefully-we-see-that-the-brief-elation-we-experience/) [Dalai Lama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dalai-lama/) > [Fie on the eloquence that leaves us craving itself, not things!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-de-montaigne/fie-on-the-eloquence-that-leaves-us-craving-itself-not-things/) [Michel de Montaigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-de-montaigne/) > [How are we to account for the strange human craving for the pleasure of feeling afraid which is so much involved in our love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/how-are-we-to-account-for-the-strange-human-craving-for-the-pleasure/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [You don't want to love - your eternal and abnormal craving is to be loved. You aren't positive, you're negative. You absorb, absorb, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-don-t-want-to-love-your-eternal-and-abnormal-craving-is-to-be/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The worst passion we mortals cherish is the desire to possess. Even when we know that our final destination is a hole not more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-t-suzuki/the-worst-passion-we-mortals-cherish-is-the-desire-to-possess-even/) [D.T. Suzuki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-t-suzuki/) > [Memory, with its fugitive adjustments, is the merciful veil to the grim enactments of the first law. It hides the anguish in the human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stacy-aumonier/memory-with-its-fugitive-adjustments-is-the-merciful-veil-to-the-grim/) [Stacy Aumonier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stacy-aumonier/) > [Fianlly a wave of reailty swept over my eyes and I was able to see, I wasn't in love with an angle but addicted…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christian/fianlly-a-wave-of-reailty-swept-over-my-eyes-and-i-was-able-to-see-i/) [Christian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christian/) > [The craving to risk death is our last great perversion. We come from night, we go into night. Why live in night?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fowles/the-craving-to-risk-death-is-our-last-great-perversion-we-come-from/) [John Fowles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fowles/) Browse all 626 Craving quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“My second sentiment was a craving for love. 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