I'm midway through the book and, so far, coming across many, many passages worth quoting (from the Constance Garnett translation). I'm tied between two of the following quotes (both from Part Nine, Chapter I):
1. "History--that is the unconscious life of humanity in the swarm, in the community--makes every minute of the life of kings its own, as an instrument for attaining its ends."
2. "Every action of theirs, that seems to them an act of their own freewill, is in an historical sense not free at all, but in bondage to the whole course of previous history, and predestined from all eternity." (i.e.: Freedom isn't free, and every action you do is forever documented in even your own personal history and the histories of those around you whether you know them or not and whether it was your own choice or not... also could mean that our perception of freedom is, in a way, scripted)
Anyone have some quotes that stand out in War and Peace?