{"product_id":"greatness-tolstoy-organic-cotton-tee","title":"Greatness — Tolstoy Organic Cotton Tee","description":"\u003cp\u003eRead it again and notice what Tolstoy didn't do. He never says what greatness is. He says what it can't survive without — and then names three things nobody puts on a monument.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"And there is no greatness where simplicity, goodness, and truth are absent.\"\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLeo Tolstoy, \u003cem\u003eWar and Peace\u003c\/em\u003e (1869), Book Fourteen, Ch. XVIII\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e— Louise and Aylmer Maude translation (1922–23). Public domain.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eContext\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt arrives near the end of the book, while Napoleon abandons his army on the road out of Russia. For fifty years, Tolstoy writes, the world had said \"Napoleon the Great\" — and it occurred to nobody that calling a man great regardless of right and wrong is only a confession of your own smallness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTolstoy built the test as a negative on purpose. You can't audit greatness directly; the word is too easy to award. But you can check for absences. Take any figure the age agrees was great and run the three: was there simplicity, was there goodness, was there truth? Most of the names don't survive the third question.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWho It's For\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eYou've read enough biography to notice the celebrated names usually weren't the good ones\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eYou want the organic cotton version without giving up the weight of the design to get it\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIf you've ever watched someone perform greatness and wondered why it left you cold, this is the line for it\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe Design\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThree words hold one word up. SIMPLICITY, GOODNESS and TRUTH stand as columns beneath GREATNESS — not qualities that decorate it, but the structure it rests on. Pull any column and the thing above has nothing to stand on.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe columns and rule are a warm matte gold — deeper than yellow, with copper in it. GREATNESS and the quote sit above and below in cream, the attribution in a quieter grey. On black it reads severe, like something carved into a wall by someone who meant it. On French navy the gold warms half a shade and the whole thing softens; the same argument, spoken rather than inscribed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eAbout This Tee\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e100% organic ring-spun combed cotton, 4.6 oz\/yd² (156 g\/m²), single jersey\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFabric-washed before make-up — soft from the first wear, minimal shrink\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMedium fit, side-seamed, set-in sleeves\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eElastane-free 1×1 rib collar with self-fabric neck tape inside the back\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTwin-needle topstitching at sleeve cuffs and hem\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTear-away labels — nothing scratching the back of your neck\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAvailable in black and French navy\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePrinted on a GOTS-certified organic cotton blank (Global Organic Textile Standard, \"Organic\" grade — 95% minimum certified organic fibre; Control Union CU 1393082). Also certified to OEKO-TEX Standard 100, PETA-Approved Vegan, and made in a Fair Wear Foundation member facility\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWoven, dyed and assembled in Bangladesh\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMachine wash cold, do not bleach, tumble dry low, iron low heat, do not dry clean\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eQuoteiac logo on the left sleeve\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eLeo Tolstoy, in Plain English\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLived 1828–1910; born into Russian nobility on an estate his family had held for generations\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eServed in the Crimean War at Sevastopol and came home with material for a lifetime\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eWar and Peace\u003c\/em\u003e (1869) and \u003cem\u003eAnna Karenina\u003c\/em\u003e (1878) — two of the longest novels in the Western tradition, both finished before he turned fifty\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSpent his later decades dismantling the life his class had handed him: renounced his title, gave away the copyrights to his later work, tried to live by what his fiction argued\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDied at eighty-two in a provincial stationmaster's house, having left home in winter to finally live the way he had written\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eMore from this collection\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"\/products\/greatness-tolstoy-war-and-peace-t-shirt\"\u003eGreatness — Tolstoy \"War and Peace\" Quote Tee\u003c\/a\u003e — the same design on heavyweight garment-dyed cotton. See the full \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/tolstoy\"\u003eTolstoy collection\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSizing note:\u003c\/strong\u003e medium fit — closer to the body than a boxy relaxed tee. If you want room, size up. Measurements below are the garment laid flat, not body measurements.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSize Guide\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"table-responsive dynamic\"\u003e\n\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMeasurements are of the garment laid flat and may vary by up to 2 inches. Width is measured across the chest from seam to seam — double it to compare against a shirt you already own.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Quoteiac","offers":[{"title":"French Navy \/ S","offer_id":43137046839390,"sku":"1926734_21332","price":37.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"French Navy \/ M","offer_id":43137046872158,"sku":"1926734_21333","price":37.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"French Navy \/ L","offer_id":43137046904926,"sku":"1926734_21334","price":37.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"French Navy \/ XL","offer_id":43137046937694,"sku":"1926734_21335","price":37.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"French Navy \/ 2XL","offer_id":43137046970462,"sku":"1926734_21336","price":39.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Black \/ S","offer_id":43137047003230,"sku":"1926734_21322","price":37.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Black \/ M","offer_id":43137047035998,"sku":"1926734_21323","price":37.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Black \/ L","offer_id":43137047068766,"sku":"1926734_21324","price":37.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Black \/ XL","offer_id":43137047101534,"sku":"1926734_21325","price":37.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Black \/ 2XL","offer_id":43137047134302,"sku":"1926734_21326","price":39.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0554\/8664\/4318\/files\/unisex-organic-mid-light-crafter-t-shirt-french-navy-front-6a76b8c2c8dfa.png?v=1786165466","url":"https:\/\/quoteiac.com\/products\/greatness-tolstoy-organic-cotton-tee","provider":"Quoteiac","version":"1.0","type":"link"}