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Leo Tolstoy
“Everybody thinks of changing humanity, nobody thinks of changing himself.”
Three Methods of Reform, 1900

Documented source

Source
Leo Tolstoy, Three Methods of Reform (1900)
Translator
Aylmer Maude (public domain)
Wording
Exact per Maude

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) · Three Methods of Reform, 1900 · written past seventy, after renouncing his title and copyrights

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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.