--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I first read War And Peace about 100…" description: "\"I first read War And Peace about 100 years after Tolstoy wrote it.\" — Simon Schama" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/902/simon-schama-4492_100-years_i-first-read-war-and-peace-about-100-yea_1373522.png" --- # I first read War And Peace about 100 years after Tolstoy… ![“I first read War And Peace about 100 years after Tolstoy wrote it.” quote by Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/902/simon-schama-4492_100-years_i-first-read-war-and-peace-about-100-yea_1373522.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/902/simon-schama-4492_100-years_i-first-read-war-and-peace-about-100-yea_1373522.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/902/simon-schama-4492_100-years_i-first-read-war-and-peace-about-100-yea_1373522.png) > “I first read War And Peace about 100 years after Tolstoy wrote it.” [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Reading Tolstoy’s epic long after its publication shows its lasting relevance and the timeless nature of its themes. **In simple terms:** Classic works stay relevant. Key Takeaway Explore timeless literature. Themes literature history endurance Mood curious appreciative Type literary historical When to use this quote - education - book clubs - academic study Key Concepts cultural legacy historical context Questions to Reflect On - Why do some classics endure? - How can we relate them today? A Different Perspective Modern readers may miss original context. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [100 years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/100-years/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Firsts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/firsts/) [Peace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/peace/) [Read War](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/read-war-573632/) [Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tolstoy/) [Tolstoy Wrote](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tolstoy-wrote-2789069/) [War](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/war/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/years/) [Years Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/years-tolstoy-4736384/) ## Related quotes > [When Tolstoy wrote that all happy families are alike, what he meant was that there are no happy families.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-cheever/when-tolstoy-wrote-that-all-happy-families-are-alike-what-he-meant/) [Susan Cheever](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-cheever/) > [“The hero of my tale,” Tolstoy wrote when he was just twenty-seven, “whom I love with all the power of my soul, whom I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/the-hero-of-my-tale-tolstoy-wrote-when-he-was-just-twenty-seven-whom/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [Gordie, the white boy genius, gave me this book by a Russian dude named Tolstoy, who wrote, 'Happy families are all alike; every unhappy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sherman-alexie/gordie-the-white-boy-genius-gave-me-this-book-by-a-russian-dude-named/) [Sherman Alexie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sherman-alexie/) > [Everything Tolstoy wrote is precious, but I found this final statement of the truth about life as he had come to understand it particularly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/everything-tolstoy-wrote-is-precious-but-i-found-this-final-statement/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [“Tolstoy wrote, 'The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity.' He understood this service as a religious duty. For me, I understand it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nina-sankovitch/tolstoy-wrote-the-sole-meaning-of-life-is-to-serve-humanity-he/) [Nina Sankovitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nina-sankovitch/) > [If I wanted to be bored by 6,000 pages of unreadable dreck, I'd read War and Peace four times.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-black/if-i-wanted-to-be-bored-by-6-000-pages-of-unreadable-dreck-i-d-read/) [Lewis Black](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-black/) > [“To My Children, I'm dedicating my little story to you; doubtless you will be among the very few who will ever read it. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rod-serling/to-my-children-i-m-dedicating-my-little-story-to-you-doubtless-you/) [Rod Serling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rod-serling/) > [I don't really have a bucket list, but if I did, one entry would be to dust off my college Russian and spend a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erik-larson/i-don-t-really-have-a-bucket-list-but-if-i-did-one-entry-would-be-to/) [Erik Larson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erik-larson/) > [I took a speed-reading course and read War and Peace in twenty minutes. It involves Russia.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/woody-allen/i-took-a-speed-reading-course-and-read-war-and-peace-in-twenty/) [Woody Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/woody-allen/) > [I do not think anyone can read War and Peace too much. I read it six times...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maxwell-perkins/i-do-not-think-anyone-can-read-war-and-peace-too-much-i-read-it-six/) [Maxwell Perkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maxwell-perkins/) > [Boys and girls, And women, that would groan to see a child Pull off an insect's leg, all read of war, The best amusement…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-taylor-coleridge/boys-and-girls-and-women-that-would-groan-to-see-a-child-pull-off-an/) [Samuel Taylor Coleridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-taylor-coleridge/) > [I have to admit that I only read 'War and Peace' when I was 40. But I knew the basics before then.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umberto-eco/i-have-to-admit-that-i-only-read-war-and-peace-when-i-was-40-but-i/) [Umberto Eco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umberto-eco/) > [I think people used to read 'War and Peace,' and now they don't; now they sit around with their tablets and watch 'Downton Abbey'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noah-hawley/i-think-people-used-to-read-war-and-peace-and-now-they-don-t-now-they/) [Noah Hawley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noah-hawley/) > [Americans will listen, but they do not care to read. War and Peace must wait for the leisure of retirement, which never really comes:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-burgess/americans-will-listen-but-they-do-not-care-to-read-war-and-peace-must/) [Anthony Burgess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-burgess/) > [At present, I am a poet trying to be a soldier. To tell the truth, I am not interested in writing nowadays, except in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-kilmer/at-present-i-am-a-poet-trying-to-be-a-soldier-to-tell-the-truth-i-am/) [Joyce Kilmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-kilmer/) ## More by Simon Schama > [Histories never conclude; they just pause their prose. Their stories are, if they are truthful, untidy affairs, resistant to windings-up and sortings-out. They beat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/histories-never-conclude-they-just-pause-their-prose-their-stories/) [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) > [The difficulty with poetry is that it doesn't have the life that Shakespeare or Jane Austen have beyond the page. You can't make a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/the-difficulty-with-poetry-is-that-it-doesn-t-have-the-life-that/) [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) > [Taxation, the very thing that had triggered the British civil wars, would do so again, this time in America. The taxes may have been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/taxation-the-very-thing-that-had-triggered-the-british-civil-wars/) [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) > [Anyone can write an academic piece directed at other academics. To write something that delivers an argument and a gripping storyline to someone's granny…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/anyone-can-write-an-academic-piece-directed-at-other-academics-to/) [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) > [In its Greek origins, historia meant inquiry, and from Thucydides onwards, the past has been studied to understand its connections with the present.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/in-its-greek-origins-historia-meant-inquiry-and-from-thucydides/) [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) > [Jewish history turns out not to be an either/or story - as in, either pure Judaism detached from its surroundings or else assimilation -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/jewish-history-turns-out-not-to-be-an-either-or-story-as-in-either/) [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) > [Growing up in Britain as a rather loose Jew, the two things that didn't belong together were freedom and religious intensity. In America, they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/growing-up-in-britain-as-a-rather-loose-jew-the-two-things-that-didn/) [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) > [In the end, history, especially British history with its succession of thrilling illuminations, should be, as all her most accomplished narrators have promised, not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/in-the-end-history-especially-british-history-with-its-succession-of/) [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) > [From 1789, perhaps even before that, it had been the willingness of politicians to exploit either the threat or the fact of violence that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/from-1789-perhaps-even-before-that-it-had-been-the-willingness-of/) [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) > [The default mode of modern writing about art is to despise any notion of singularity as so much overheated genius-fetishism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/the-default-mode-of-modern-writing-about-art-is-to-despise-any-notion/) [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) > [The synagogues of late antiquity and the early medieval period were built around imagery: imagery of remembering the Temple, but also of the celestial…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/the-synagogues-of-late-antiquity-and-the-early-medieval-period-were/) [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) > [At 11, 12, I thought I was clumsy, ugly, a mess, an unappealing person, but I did have the gift of the gab. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/at-11-12-i-thought-i-was-clumsy-ugly-a-mess-an-unappealing-person-but/) [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) > [We seem wired to grieve with greenery. Allowing the dead to dissolve into the earth, to become part of the cycle of the seasons,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/we-seem-wired-to-grieve-with-greenery-allowing-the-dead-to-dissolve/) [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) > [The older I get, the more I want to do. It beats death, decay or golf in unfortunate trousers. Peace and quiet depress me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/the-older-i-get-the-more-i-want-to-do-it-beats-death-decay-or-golf-in/) [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) > [The Elephantine papyri - written as some of the books of the Bible are being written - is true social and legal documentation, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/the-elephantine-papyri-written-as-some-of-the-books-of-the-bible-are/) [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) [Explore all 109 Simon Schama quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) ## More 100 years quotes > [If the whole world depends on today's youth, I can't see the world lasting another 100 years.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/socrates/if-the-whole-world-depends-on-today-s-youth-i-can-t-see-the-world/) [Socrates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/socrates/) > [The most significant halachic authority of the last 100 years, whose positions helped fashion a balanced and moderate Judaism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ovadia-yosef/the-most-significant-halachic-authority-of-the-last-100-years-whose/) [Ovadia Yosef](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ovadia-yosef/) > [Separate and unequal didn't work 100 years ago. It will not work today.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-kozol/separate-and-unequal-didn-t-work-100-years-ago-it-will-not-work-today/) [Jonathan Kozol](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-kozol/) > [Everything we have developed over the last 100 years should be destroyed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pentti-linkola/everything-we-have-developed-over-the-last-100-years-should-be/) [Pentti Linkola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pentti-linkola/) > [“If humans can live for 100 years, why do companies die so young.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sukant-ratnakar/if-humans-can-live-for-100-years-why-do-companies-die-so-young/) [Sukant Ratnakar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sukant-ratnakar/) > [If you look at the history of our country over the last 100 years, there have been periods where science and research have been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-zuckerberg/if-you-look-at-the-history-of-our-country-over-the-last-100-years/) [Mark Zuckerberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-zuckerberg/) > [“None of this will matter in 100 years.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/my-anonymous-friend/none-of-this-will-matter-in-100-years/) [My Anonymous Friend](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/my-anonymous-friend/) > [We can't keep thinking in a limited way about what cinema is. We still don't know what cinema is. Maybe cinema could only really…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-scorsese/we-can-t-keep-thinking-in-a-limited-way-about-what-cinema-is-we-still/) [Martin Scorsese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-scorsese/) > [That's great. I'm 100 years old and people are still interested.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grant-fuhr/that-s-great-i-m-100-years-old-and-people-are-still-interested/) [Grant Fuhr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grant-fuhr/) > [It took Hong Kong 100 years to become what it is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/liu-xiaobo/it-took-hong-kong-100-years-to-become-what-it-is/) [Liu Xiaobo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/liu-xiaobo/) > [Just because society, and government, and whatever was different 100 years ago, doesn't mean that people didn't have sex, pick their nose, or swear.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-winslet/just-because-society-and-government-and-whatever-was-different-100/) [Kate Winslet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-winslet/) > [Americans, they have an incredible operatic tradition: the Metropolitan Opera House is - if not the most prestigious - one of the most prestigious…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jose-carreras/americans-they-have-an-incredible-operatic-tradition-the-metropolitan/) [Jose Carreras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jose-carreras/) > [I wake up in the morning and I still have a passion for what I do, and I'll be doing it when I'm 105,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jackie-collins/i-wake-up-in-the-morning-and-i-still-have-a-passion-for-what-i-do-and/) [Jackie Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jackie-collins/) > [Film, if properly cared for, will last almost 100 years, but digital will not.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thelma-schoonmaker/film-if-properly-cared-for-will-last-almost-100-years-but-digital/) [Thelma Schoonmaker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thelma-schoonmaker/) > [“In days of yore (about 100 years before olden days, but about 50 years later than ancient times),”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-pratchett/in-days-of-yore-about-100-years-before-olden-days-but-about-50-years/) [Terry Pratchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-pratchett/) [Browse all 160 100 years quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/100-years/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I first read War And Peace about 100 years after Tolstoy wrote it.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Simon Schama" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/i-first-read-war-and-peace-about-100-years-after-tolstoy-wrote-it/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "100 years" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/i-first-read-war-and-peace-about-100-years-after-tolstoy-wrote-it/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/902/simon-schama-4492_100-years_i-first-read-war-and-peace-about-100-yea_1373522.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/902/simon-schama-4492_100-years_i-first-read-war-and-peace-about-100-yea_1373522.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/902/simon-schama-4492_100-years_i-first-read-war-and-peace-about-100-yea_1373522.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I first read War And Peace about 100 years after Tolstoy wrote it.” — Simon Schama", "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": "Simon Schama", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I first read War And Peace...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/i-first-read-war-and-peace-about-100-years-after-tolstoy-wrote-it/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/i-first-read-war-and-peace-about-100-years-after-tolstoy-wrote-it/#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 } } ] } ```