--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Yet that grief and this joy were alike…" description: "\"“Yet that grief and this joy were alike outside all the ordinary conditions of life; they were loop-holes, as it were, in that ordinary life through wh..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b8a/leo-tolstoy-55_contemplation_yet-that-grief-and-this-joy-were-alike-o_26601.jpg" --- # Yet that grief and this joy were alike outside all the… ![“Yet that grief and this joy were alike outside all the ordinary conditions of life; they were loop-holes, as it were, in that ordinary life through which there came glimpses of something sublime. And in the contemplation of this sublime something the soul was exalted to inconceivable heights of…” quote by Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b8a/leo-tolstoy-55_contemplation_yet-that-grief-and-this-joy-were-alike-o_26601.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b8a/leo-tolstoy-55_contemplation_yet-that-grief-and-this-joy-were-alike-o_26601.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b8a/leo-tolstoy-55_contemplation_yet-that-grief-and-this-joy-were-alike-o_26601.jpg) > ““Yet that grief and this joy were alike outside all the ordinary conditions of life; they were loop-holes, as it were, in that ordinary life through which there came glimpses of something sublime. And in the contemplation of this sublime something the soul was exalted to inconceivable heights of which it had before had no conception which reason lagged behind, unable to keep up with it.”” [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. Grief and joy break ordinary life, revealing glimpses of the sublime that elevate the soul beyond ordinary understanding, outpacing reason. **In simple terms:** Extreme emotions expose the sublime, transcending reason. Key Takeaway Intense feelings can lift consciousness beyond the mundane. Themes Transcendence Emotion Sublime Soul Reason Life Mood Awe Melancholy Elevated Type Philosophical Poetic Reflective When to use this quote - Artistic creation - Philosophical reflection - Therapeutic processing of loss - Spiritual meditation - Crisis moments Key Concepts Emotion as portal Limits of rationality Spiritual elevation Contrast of joy and grief Practical Applications - Poetry that captures deep feeling - Therapeutic counseling using emotional insight Questions to Reflect On - How do intense emotions expand perception? - What role does reason play when confronted with the sublime? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Contemplation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contemplation/) [Grief](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grief/) [Joy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/joy/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Ordinary life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ordinary-life/) [Soul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soul/) [Spirituality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spirituality/) [Sublime](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sublime/) ## Related quotes > [But that had been grief--this was joy. Yet that grief and this joy were alike outside all the ordinary conditions of life; they were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/but-that-had-been-grief-this-was-joy-yet-that-grief-and-this-joy-were/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [“All he knew and felt was that what was happening was what had happened nearly a year before in the hotel of the country…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/all-he-knew-and-felt-was-that-what-was-happening-was-what-had/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [“Science is not enough, religion is not enough, art is not enough, politics and economics is not enough, nor is love, nor is duty,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-huxley/science-is-not-enough-religion-is-not-enough-art-is-not-enough/) [Aldous Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-huxley/) > [“The deepest shade of twilight did not send him from his favourite plane-tree. He loved the soothing hour, when the last tints of light…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-radcliffe/the-deepest-shade-of-twilight-did-not-send-him-from-his-favourite/) [Ann Radcliffe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-radcliffe/) > [He loved the soothing hour, when the last tints of light die away; when the stars, one by one, tremble through æther, and are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-radcliffe/he-loved-the-soothing-hour-when-the-last-tints-of-light-die-away-when/) [Ann Radcliffe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-radcliffe/) > [Sublime places repeat in grand terms a lesson that ordinary life typically teaches viciously: that the universe is mightier than we are, that we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/sublime-places-repeat-in-grand-terms-a-lesson-that-ordinary-life/) [Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/) > [“The story of Ivan Ilyich life was of the simplest, most ordinary and therefore most terrible". Tolstoy defines living an ordinary life as terrible…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/the-story-of-ivan-ilyich-life-was-of-the-simplest-most-ordinary-and/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [The artist of the future will live the ordinary life of a human being, earning his living by some kind of labour. He will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/the-artist-of-the-future-will-live-the-ordinary-life-of-a-human-being/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [“Whether grief or joy tears taste the same.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arun-prabhu-aradhya/whether-grief-or-joy-tears-taste-the-same/) [Arun Prabhu- aradhya](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arun-prabhu-aradhya/) > [The difference between shallow happiness and a deep, sustaining joy is sorrow. Happiness lives where sorrow is not. When sorrow arrives, happiness dies. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-difference-between-shallow-happiness-and-a-deep-sustaining-joy-is/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [No one really understands the grief or joy of another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-schubert/no-one-really-understands-the-grief-or-joy-of-another/) [Franz Schubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-schubert/) > [“Do not be overcome by grief but overcome grief with joy. When we’re overcome with grief we’re focusing on the state of our own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-houge/do-not-be-overcome-by-grief-but-overcome-grief-with-joy-when-we-re/) [Adam Houge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-houge/) > [Death is as casual and often as unexpected as birth. It is as difficult to define grief as joy. Each is finite. Each will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-bishop/death-is-as-casual-and-often-as-unexpected-as-birth-it-is-as/) [Jim Bishop](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-bishop/) > [“There are some who would vow that life isn’t fair. They believe the worst is yet to come, that evil will always conquer good,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-harris/there-are-some-who-would-vow-that-life-isn-t-fair-they-believe-the/) [Rebecca Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-harris/) > [We can laugh from either joy or happiness, but we weep only from grief or joy...Without the pain of farewell, there is no joy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-vaillant/we-can-laugh-from-either-joy-or-happiness-but-we-weep-only-from-grief/) [George Vaillant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-vaillant/) ## 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 Contemplation quotes > [“Inside every pause lived a contemplation”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-jerome-dickey/inside-every-pause-lived-a-contemplation/) [Eric Jerome Dickey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-jerome-dickey/) > [... Arthur Gride, whose bleared eyes gloated only over the outward beauties, and were blind to the spirit which reigned within, evinced - a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/arthur-gride-whose-bleared-eyes-gloated-only-over-the-outward/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [“Let no one hope to find in contemplation an escape from conflict, from anguish or from doubt. On the contrary, the deep, inexpressible certitude…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/let-no-one-hope-to-find-in-contemplation-an-escape-from-conflict-from/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [“The problem with the contemplative life was that there was no end to contemplation, no fixed time limit after which thought had to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-russo/the-problem-with-the-contemplative-life-was-that-there-was-no-end-to/) [Richard Russo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-russo/) > [Poetical taste is the only magician whose wand is not broken. No hand, except its own, can dissolve the fabric of beauty in which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/poetical-taste-is-the-only-magician-whose-wand-is-not-broken-no-hand/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) > [Catholicity seized on man... and the mystics, transcending all, taught him to ascend on high with the wings of contemplation the Ladder of Jacob…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juan-donoso-cortes/catholicity-seized-on-man-and-the-mystics-transcending-all-taught-him/) Juan Donoso Cortes > [To enter into the realm of contemplation one must in a certain sense die: but this death is in fact the entrance to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/to-enter-into-the-realm-of-contemplation-one-must-in-a-certain-sense/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [The whole of life is a journey toward youthful old age, toward self-contemplation, love, gaiety, and, in a fundamental sense, the most gratifying time…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ashley-montagu/the-whole-of-life-is-a-journey-toward-youthful-old-age-toward-self/) [Ashley Montagu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ashley-montagu/) > [Everyone who wants to know what will happen ought to examine what has happened: everything in this world in any epoch has their replicas…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/niccolo-machiavelli/everyone-who-wants-to-know-what-will-happen-ought-to-examine-what-has/) [Niccolo Machiavelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/niccolo-machiavelli/) > [We must not imitate the externals of nature with so much fidelity that the picture fails to evoke that wonderful teasing recurrence of emotion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-f-carlson/we-must-not-imitate-the-externals-of-nature-with-so-much-fidelity/) [John F. 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