'Truth, like gold...' - Leo Tolstoy

[Swagman]

There is a famous quote by Leo Tolstoy -
'Truth, like gold, is to be found not by it's growth but by washing away from all that is not gold.'

Does anybody know which book or essay this Tolstoy quote is from? I am keen to read the work in it's full context.

Cheers!

[cafolini]

I don't know the place where that comes from. Tolstoy is a very difficult writer to understand because oftentimes he spoke from deep resentment. He never grasped the role of government and was most of the time against it, often very stupidly.
"I took a speedreading course and read War and Peace in 20 minutes. It was about Russia." ~ Woody Allen

[Adolescent09]

I don't know the place where that comes from. Tolstoy is a very difficult writer to understand because oftentimes he spoke from deep resentment. He never grasped the role of government and was most of the time against it, often very stupidly.
"I took a speedreading course and read War and Peace in 20 minutes. It was about Russia." ~ Woody Allen

Of course, this is obviously coming from someone who has not read a sentence of Tolstoy. The Woody Allen quote is a perfect example of stupidity. Anyone who thinks War and Peace is about 'war' or 'Russia' or 'the Napoleonic wars in Russia' is either too young to understand Tolstoy or too dumb.

[Calidore]

The Woody Allen quote is a perfect example of stupidity.

More like an example of comedy, as Woody Allen is a comedian. When reading quotes like the above, picture him on stage delivering them to an audience.