Leo Tolstoy
“And there is no greatness where simplicity, goodness, and truth are absent.”
War and Peace, Book XIV, ch. XVIII · tr. Maude
Documented source
Source
Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace (1869), Book XIV, ch. XVIII
Translator
Louise & Aylmer Maude, 1922–23 (public domain)
Wording
Exact per Maude
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About this line
Napoleon is fleeing Russia, his army freezing on the road behind him, and the historians are already busy turning the retreat into strategy. Tolstoy stops the entire novel to refuse the myth — and to say plainly what greatness actually requires.
Why we carry this line
This could have been written today. So much truth in the statement. I knew it was destined for our catalog.
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