Anna Karenina Quotes by Leo Tolstoy

Anna Karenina is written by a Russian author Leo Tolstoy and it was first published in 1878. Many authors consider it the greatest work in literature ever. Even Tolstoy said that this novel is his first true novel. The novel has 8 parts and more than 800 pages typically come in two volumes. The story deals with rural vs city life, imperial Russian society, desire, family, marriage, faith, and betrayal.

It was a big task to curate a list of best quotes from Anna Karenina novel, it is such a complex that has dozens of major characters.  So without further ado let’s get into the list of quotes.

Best Quotes from Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

1. “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

2. “If you look for perfection, you’ll never be content.”

3. “He stepped down, trying not to look long at her, as if she were the sun, yet he saw her, like the sun, even without looking.”

4. “Respect was invented to cover the empty place where love should be.”

5. “Spring is the time of plans and projects.”

6. “Is it really possible to tell someone else what one feels?”

7. “Rummaging in our souls, we often dig up something that ought to have lain there unnoticed. ”

8. “I’ve always loved you, and when you love someone, you love the whole person, just as he or she is, and not as you would like them to be.”

9. “Be bad, but at least don’t be a liar, a deceiver!”

10. “All the variety, all the charm, all the beauty of life is made up of light and shadow.”

11. “Anything is better than lies and deceit!”

12. “I always loved you, and if one loves anyone, one loves the whole person, just as they are and not as one would like them to be. -Dolly”

13. “Sometimes she did not know what she feared, what she desired: whether she feared or desired what had been or what would be, and precisely what she desired, she did not know.”

14. “it’s much better to do good in a way that no one knows anything about it.”

15. “They’ve got no idea what happiness is, they don’t know that without this love there is no happiness or unhappiness for us–there is no life.”

16. “But the law of loving others could not be discovered by reason, because it is unreasonable.”

17. “I often think that men don’t understand what is noble and what is ignorant, though they always talk about it.”

18. “Love those you hate you.”

19. “He was afraid of defiling the love which filled his soul.”

20. “All the diversity, all the charm, and all the beauty of life are made up of light and shade.”

21. “I’m like a starving man who has been given food. Maybe he’s cold, and his clothes are torn, and he’s ashamed, but he’s not unhappy.”

22. “What a strange illusion it is to suppose that beauty is goodness.”

23. “Every heart has its own skeletons.”

24. “Everything intelligent is so boring.”

25. “He looked at her as a man might look at a faded flower he had plucked, in which it was difficult for him to trace the beauty that had made him pick and so destroy it”

26. “There are no conditions to which a person cannot grow accustomed, especially if he sees that everyone around him lives in the same way.”

27. “He stepped down, avoiding any long look at her as one avoids long looks at the sun, but seeing her as one sees the sun, without looking.”

28. “He went down trying not to look long at her, as though she were the sun, but he saw her, as one sees the sun, without looking.”

29. “The Kingdom of God is Within You,”

30. “There can be no peace for us, only misery, and the greatest happiness.”

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Wrapping Up

This was the list of best-handpicked quotes from Anna Karenina novel, If you liked it then don’t forget to share this on your social media handles and if you have any suggestions then please let us know by commenting down below.