Leo Tolstoy
“Everybody thinks of changing humanity, nobody thinks of changing himself.”
Leo Tolstoy, Three Methods of Reform (1900) — tr. Aylmer Maude
Documented source
Attribution
Leo Tolstoy
Source
Leo Tolstoy, Three Methods of Reform (1900) — tr. Aylmer Maude
In full
“Everybody thinks of changing humanity, nobody thinks of changing himself.”
Status
Public domain in the United States
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About this line
The late Tolstoy — past seventy, having given away his title, his copyrights, and most of what he owned — reducing a lifetime of failed reform to a single sentence. He’d earned the right to say it.
Why we carry this line
We all think everyone around us needs to change. We forget when we’re finger pointing, one finger points back, squarely in our own chests. And that is exactly why it’s here.
Objects carrying this line
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