--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Now he experienced a feeling akin to that…" description: "\"“Now he experienced a feeling akin to that of a man whom while calmly crossing a bridge over a precipice, should suddenly discover that the bridge is b..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5f9/leo-tolstoy-55_artificial-life_now-he-experienced-a-feeling-akin-to-tha_1581888.jpg" --- # Now he experienced a feeling akin to that of a man whom… ![“Now he experienced a feeling akin to that of a man whom while calmly crossing a bridge over a precipice, should suddenly discover that the bridge is broken, and that there is a chasm below. That chasm was life itself, the bridge that artificial life in which Aleksey Aleksandrovich had lived.” quote by Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5f9/leo-tolstoy-55_artificial-life_now-he-experienced-a-feeling-akin-to-tha_1581888.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5f9/leo-tolstoy-55_artificial-life_now-he-experienced-a-feeling-akin-to-tha_1581888.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5f9/leo-tolstoy-55_artificial-life_now-he-experienced-a-feeling-akin-to-tha_1581888.jpg) > ““Now he experienced a feeling akin to that of a man whom while calmly crossing a bridge over a precipice, should suddenly discover that the bridge is broken, and that there is a chasm below. That chasm was life itself, the bridge that artificial life in which Aleksey Aleksandrovich had lived.”” [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. A sudden realization that life is fragile, like a broken bridge over a void, exposing existential vulnerability. **In simple terms:** Life feels fragile like a broken bridge. Key Takeaway Recognize life's fragility and act mindfully. Themes existential fragility awareness Mood reflective serious Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - personal crisis - career change - health scares - relationship decisions Key Concepts philosophical existential crisis Questions to Reflect On - How do you confront sudden awareness of life's fragility? - What steps can you take to live more intentionally? A Different Perspective The metaphor may overdramatize everyday uncertainty. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Artificial life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artificial-life/) [Chasm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chasm/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Life itself](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life-itself/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) ## Related quotes > [“Alexei Alexandrovich stood face to face with life, confronting the possibility of his wife loving someone else besides him, and it was this that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/alexei-alexandrovich-stood-face-to-face-with-life-confronting-the/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [That pit of blackness that lies beneath us, everywhere ... the firmest substance of human happiness is but a thin crust spread over it,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/that-pit-of-blackness-that-lies-beneath-us-everywhere-the-firmest/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [One cannot leap a chasm in two jumps.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/one-cannot-leap-a-chasm-in-two-jumps/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [There is nothing more dangerous than to leap a chasm in two jumps.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lloyd-george/there-is-nothing-more-dangerous-than-to-leap-a-chasm-in-two-jumps/) [David Lloyd George](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lloyd-george/) > [“The chasm was merely one of the orifices of that pit of blackness that lies beneath us..”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathanial-hawthorne/the-chasm-was-merely-one-of-the-orifices-of-that-pit-of-blackness/) Nathanial Hawthorne > [The most dangerous thing in the world is to try to leap a chasm in two jumps.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lloyd-george/the-most-dangerous-thing-in-the-world-is-to-try-to-leap-a-chasm-in/) [David Lloyd George](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lloyd-george/) > [“I know grief, and it is a chasm.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tessa-gratton/i-know-grief-and-it-is-a-chasm/) [Tessa Gratton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tessa-gratton/) > [“All the words he'd stored up had tumbled into the great chasm beneath them”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carey-jane-clark/all-the-words-he-d-stored-up-had-tumbled-into-the-great-chasm-beneath/) Carey Jane Clark > [You can't cross a chasm in two small jumps.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lloyd-george/you-can-t-cross-a-chasm-in-two-small-jumps/) [David Lloyd George](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lloyd-george/) > [The most dangerous strategy is to jump a chasm in two leaps.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-disraeli/the-most-dangerous-strategy-is-to-jump-a-chasm-in-two-leaps/) [Benjamin Disraeli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-disraeli/) > [“I scream across the chasm. Hoping that my voice can reach where my hands cannot.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yuvraj-sandhu/i-scream-across-the-chasm-hoping-that-my-voice-can-reach-where-my/) Yuvraj Sandhu > [Sarcasm creates a chasm between yourself and others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gayle-forman/sarcasm-creates-a-chasm-between-yourself-and-others/) [Gayle Forman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gayle-forman/) > [The society killed Kendra." ... Don't mention it to Verl. He might dive into a chasm.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brandon-mull/the-society-killed-kendra-don-t-mention-it-to-verl-he-might-dive-into/) [Brandon Mull](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brandon-mull/) > [“Frodo gave a cry, and there was, fallen upon his knees at the chasm's edge. But Gollum, dancing like a mad thing, held aloft…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-r-r-tolkien/frodo-gave-a-cry-and-there-was-fallen-upon-his-knees-at-the-chasm-s/) [J.R.R. Tolkien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-r-r-tolkien/) > [“If someone dies of anything other than extreme old age and natural causes, and often even then the death leaves a great void in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tyler-dilts/if-someone-dies-of-anything-other-than-extreme-old-age-and-natural/) [Tyler Dilts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tyler-dilts/) ## 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 Artificial life quotes > [Steve Grand is the creator of what I think is the nearest approach to artificial life so far, and his first book, Creation: Life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/steve-grand-is-the-creator-of-what-i-think-is-the-nearest-approach-to/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [How could she have believed such an artificial life as the theatre was suitable?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-mccaffrey/how-could-she-have-believed-such-an-artificial-life-as-the-theatre/) [Anne McCaffrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-mccaffrey/) > [Each of the essays in this volume ranges widely across technical and philosophical domains. They examine both familiar automatons from throughout history and delight…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rodney-brooks/each-of-the-essays-in-this-volume-ranges-widely-across-technical-and/) [Rodney Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rodney-brooks/) > [I'm very interested in the evolution of technology, and it's really the idea of artificial life which intrigues me, more than just intelligence -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-simmons/i-m-very-interested-in-the-evolution-of-technology-and-it-s-really/) [Dan Simmons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-simmons/) > [Nature (the Art whereby God hath made and governs the World) is by the Art of man, as in many other things, so in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/nature-the-art-whereby-god-hath-made-and-governs-the-world-is-by-the/) [Thomas Hobbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hobbes/) > [Most of the time, we live our lives within these invisible systems, blissfully unaware of the artificial life, the intensely designed infrastructures that support…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-mau/most-of-the-time-we-live-our-lives-within-these-invisible-systems/) [Bruce Mau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-mau/) > [How can a motion picture reflect real life when it is made by people who are living artificial lives?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miriam-hopkins/how-can-a-motion-picture-reflect-real-life-when-it-is-made-by-people/) Miriam Hopkins > [The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-faulkner/the-aim-of-every-artist-is-to-arrest-motion-which-is-life-by-3/) [William Faulkner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-faulkner/) > [“Alexei Alexandrovich stood face to face with life, confronting the possibility of his wife loving someone else besides him, and it was this that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/alexei-alexandrovich-stood-face-to-face-with-life-confronting-the/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [Our examination of computer viruses leads us to the conclusion that they are very close to what we might define as "artificial life." Rather…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-spafford/our-examination-of-computer-viruses-leads-us-to-the-conclusion-that/) [Gene Spafford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-spafford/) > [To do well those thing which God ordained to be the common lot of all man-kind, is the truest greatness. To be a successful…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/to-do-well-those-thing-which-god-ordained-to-be-the-common-lot-of-all/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I took my grandmother to the emergency room. The doctor said that she was on an artificial life support system, and that although her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emo-philips/i-took-my-grandmother-to-the-emergency-room-the-doctor-said-that-she/) [Emo Philips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emo-philips/) > [“A door to a long-awaited game-world has opened for those who found its key. This includes Dan Harvester, a guy who lives in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ade-mcoran-campbell/a-door-to-a-long-awaited-game-world-has-opened-for-those-who-found/) Ade McOran-Campbell > [“My laboratory is interested in the related challenges of understanding the origin of life on the early earth, and constructing synthetic cellular life in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-w-szostak/my-laboratory-is-interested-in-the-related-challenges-of/) [Jack W. Szostak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-w-szostak/) > [If I preach against the modern artificial life of sensual enjoyment, and ask men and women to go back to the simple life epitomized…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/if-i-preach-against-the-modern-artificial-life-of-sensual-enjoyment/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) [Browse all 25 Artificial life quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artificial-life/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Now he experienced a feeling akin to that of a man whom while calmly crossing a bridge over a precipice, should suddenly discover that the bridge is broken, and that there is a chasm below. That chasm was life itself, the bridge that artificial life in which Aleksey Aleksandrovich had lived.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Leo Tolstoy" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/now-he-experienced-a-feeling-akin-to-that-of-a-man-whom-while-calmly/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Artificial life" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/now-he-experienced-a-feeling-akin-to-that-of-a-man-whom-while-calmly/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5f9/leo-tolstoy-55_artificial-life_now-he-experienced-a-feeling-akin-to-tha_1581888.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5f9/leo-tolstoy-55_artificial-life_now-he-experienced-a-feeling-akin-to-tha_1581888.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5f9/leo-tolstoy-55_artificial-life_now-he-experienced-a-feeling-akin-to-tha_1581888.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Now he experienced a feeling akin to that of a man whom while calmly crossing a bridge over a precipice…” — 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": "“Now he experienced a feeling akin...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/now-he-experienced-a-feeling-akin-to-that-of-a-man-whom-while-calmly/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/now-he-experienced-a-feeling-akin-to-that-of-a-man-whom-while-calmly/#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 } } ] } ```