What did the fat lion need to work? Leo Tolstoy - an imaginary patient? Interesting facts from the life of the writer

“They didn’t talk about this at school...”

We all went to school, read or didn’t read, were interested or not. Many did not like literature lessons, but they fell in love with reading, discovered great writers, and realized that even works that were “boring” at school can reveal an unknown world. How much longer unknown facts remained outside the strict limits school curriculum, which they are now still trying to reduce every year! As in the manifesto of the Cubo-Futurists: “Abandon Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, etc. and so on. from the Steamboat of Modernity,” but even here, if you look at it, it’s all about something else.

In our new section, we will tell you something about famous writers that was not in school textbooks. Let's start with one of the most famous Russian writers and thinkers XIX century - Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy.

Biography

Russian writer, publicist, philosopher, moralist, religious teacher and teacher. Born into the family of a count and, according to tradition, received an excellent home education, then studied at Kazan University and was typical representative"golden youth" He did not complete the course and went to Moscow, where he lived, as he himself said, “very carelessly, without service, without classes, without purpose.”

Youth

Tolstoy, for us wise and sedate, in his youth lost the building of his inherited estate - the estate Yasnaya Polyana, where the writer was born and spent his childhood. The neighbor who won dismantled this estate and took it to himself as a trophy, but Tolstoy, for one reason or another, was never able to return this house. Debts began to overwhelm young Leo, and he leftto the Caucasus. The impressions from this trip were so strong that I was born « Sevastopol stories» . At first, when the stories were first published, everyone could not believe that it was Leo Tolstoy who wrote them. After all, he didn’t speak very well, and he didn’t like to write letters.

Having moved to St. Petersburg, Leo Tolstoy began to make “literary acquaintances.” His literary circle included Sovremennik employees - Nekrasov, Turgenev, Goncharov, Chernyshevsky and others. About Turgenev - separately: Tolstoy brought him to tears, mocking his, as he put it, “democratic thighs.” Their quarrel lasted for seventeen years! Duels were scheduled and canceled, many letters were sent - sometimes angry, sometimes humble. And only at the age of 50 Tolstoy took the first steps towards reconciliation, which ended the seventeen-year confrontation between the two giants of Russian and world literature.

Tolstoy traveled a lot, partly out of curiosity. He studied Western European educational methods. What he saw led him to decide that Russian education is fundamentally wrong, especially regarding the peasantry. These convictions were so strong that Tolstoy abandoned literature for some time and established a school for peasant children in Yasnaya Polyana. There he published his journal on pedagogy and introduced his educational theories.

Family

At the age of 34, he marries seventeen-year-old Sofya Andreevna Bers. They lived together for 48 years and gave birth to 13 children. After his marriage, Tolstoy wrote in his diary: “Incredible happiness... It cannot be that this all ends only in life.” There are many stories about this amazing relationship, and we recommend the book to you Tikhon Polner "Leo Tolstoy and his wife." Leo Tolstoy was a very contradictory person, with a difficult character; there was a constant struggle in his soul, which sometimes even those closest to him did not know about. Sofya Andreevna repeated more than once: “I lived with Lev Nikolaevich for forty-seven years, but I never found out what kind of person he was...”. The help that Sofya Andreevna provided to her husband is difficult to overestimate. It was she who rewrote his drafts. So, for example, she rewrote the novel “War and Peace” more than 7 times.

In his later years, Tolstoy struggled to reconcile his spiritual beliefs with the tensions he created in his family life. His wife not only did not agree with his teachings, but also did not approve of his students, who regularly visited Tolstoy on the family estate. In an effort to avoid his wife's growing discontent, in October 1910 Tolstoy and his youngest daughter Alexandra went on a pilgrimage, in which Lev Nikolaevich died on November 20, 1910.

Literature

Tolstoy had a strict attitude towards literature. Before last days he remained passionate and selfless and did not recognize “works” without the conviction that people need them. “...I devote myself to what I love, like a drunkard, and work with such passion that I am completely absorbed in work.” Tolstoy looked at writing as an activity in which “you prepare to live and die on the basis of the words that you express.” He told his fellow writers: “You need to write only when every time you dip your pen, you leave a piece of meat in the inkwell...”.

Spirituality

Tolstoy is a famous vegetarian. At the age of 57, he was visited by William Frey, a follower of the teachings of Auguste Comte. Then Tolstoy first learned about the preaching of vegetarianism - the statement that the structure of man, his teeth and intestines proves that man is not a predator. Lev Nikolaevich immediately accepted this teaching and, after realizing the resulting theory, immediately abandoned meat and fish. Not immediately, but his family followed his example.

Tolstoy's relationship with the church is not the simplest. Lev Nikolaevich's courage, honesty and openness in defending his views were the subject of controversy. And the final impetus that prompted the synod to excommunicate the writer from the church was his novel “Resurrection.” In his works, Tolstoy convincingly criticized the basic dogmas Orthodox Church and severely denounced her servants.

In 1891 Tolstoy at the age of 63 relinquished ownership of all his works , passing it on to the general free use all works written after 1881 (the novel “Resurrection”, the stories “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”, “Notes of a Madman”, “The Kreutzer Sonata”, “The Devil”, “Mother”, the stories “After the Ball”, “Poor People”, “ Divine and Human" and many other works); right to publish works of art, written by him before 1881, he gave to his wife.

IN last years In his life, L.N. Tolstoy collected the most important thoughts of the greats and systematized them in the form of aphorisms for every day. Quotes from the book “Thoughts for Every Day” are a real treasure of eternal truths and brilliant thoughts.

"When I thought about writing the whole the real truth, without hiding anything bad in my life, I was horrified by the impression that such a biography should have made... [But] if you write a biography, then you must write the whole real truth. Only such a biography, no matter how ashamed I may be to write it, can be of real and fruitful interest to readers.”.

And in his diary of 1895 (March 27), outlining his first will, he writes: “The diaries of my former single life, having selected from them what is worth it, I ask you to destroy... not because I would like to hide my bad life from people: my life was an ordinary crappy life of unprincipled young people, but because these diaries , in which I wrote down only what tormented me with the consciousness of sin, produce a false, one-sided impression and represent... But by the way, let my diaries remain as they are. From them it is clear, at least, that, despite all the vulgarity and trashiness of my youth, I was still not abandoned by God and, even as I grew older, I began to understand and love Him a little.”

The pedagogical activity of Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy began in 1849, when he taught literacy to the peasant children of Yasnaya Polyana. He became more active in teaching in 1859 and continued his work with short interruptions until the end of his days. After returning from Crimean War Lev Nikolaevich opened a school in Yasnaya Polyana and helped organize several more peasant schools in nearby villages.

Observing the behavior of a child, teenager, young man and relying on school experience Tolstoy comes to the conclusion that learning is not an easy matter. To achieve better results, he turns to specialized literature, comes into contact with educators, and is interested in experience different countries. In 1857, Tolstoy travels to Europe: he visits Germany, France, and Switzerland.

In 1860 he went abroad for the second time. He called this trip “a journey through the schools of Europe.” Then Tolstoy visited Germany, France, Switzerland, England, and Belgium. He expressed his impressions with the words: “I could write entire books about the ignorance that I saw in the schools of France, Switzerland and Germany.”

This trip finally confirmed the desire to have my own school and the Yasnaya Polyana school, opened in 1859, was reorganized in the fall of 1861. Her work was based on Leo Tolstoy’s opinion about free and fruitful creativity children with the help of teachers.

At first, the peasants greeted the free school with distrust. On the first day, only 22 children crossed the school threshold, but after 5-6 weeks the number of students more than tripled. Studying here was very different from regular schools.

Classes started at 8-9 am. At noon, break for lunch and rest, then again 3-4 hours of classes. Each teacher gave 5-6 lessons daily. Students could leave whenever they wanted, even straight from class. Depending on age, preparedness and success, students were divided into three groups: junior, middle and senior. There were no homework assignments. The predominant form of classes was not a lesson in the usual sense, but a free conversation with students, during which children learned reading, writing, arithmetic, the law of God, and learned grammatical rules. They were also taught drawing, singing, history, geography, and natural history.

The Yasnaya Polyana school for peasant children was located next to the writer’s house, in an outbuilding that has survived to this day. Children could come to classes as they wished; no one punished them for absenteeism.

The fundamental difference between the Yasnaya Polyana school was its attitude to the knowledge, skills and abilities acquired by children outside of school. Educational value they were not only not denied, as was done in most other schools, but, on the contrary, were considered as a prerequisite for success school activities. The school was dominated by a spirit of conscious discipline, which was jealously guarded and developed by students who loved their school and their teacher, Leo Tolstoy.

The content of training changed in accordance with the development of children, the capabilities of the school and teachers, and the wishes of parents. Lev Nikolaevich himself taught at senior group mathematics, physics, history, and some other subjects. Most often, he taught the lesson in the form of a story. Tolstoy mastered this teaching method perfectly. His stories were full of brightness, sincerity and emotion.

Being a teacher in Yasnaya Polyana turned out to be much more difficult than in a school with a rigid lesson schedule, forced discipline, recruitment known means rewards and punishments. The teacher was required to have moral and intellectual tension, and the ability to take into account the condition and abilities of each of his students. The teacher had to have pedagogical creativity.

Very soon, the school in Yasnaya Polyana, thanks to the unusually rapid successes among the children, acquired the best reputation among the peasants, so that students were sometimes taken to Tolstoy 50 miles away.

Tolstoy's pedagogical activity was not limited to Yasnaya Polyana. On his initiative in Krapivensky district Tula province operated for at least 20 public schools. His experiments, so unusual for that time, attracted the attention of the public, Russian and foreign. Teachers from many countries came to Yasnaya Polyana. They were attracted humanistic ideas L.N. Tolstoy.

Lev Nikolaevich published a special pedagogical magazine “Yasnaya Polyana”. It described new teaching methods, new principles of administrative activity, the distribution of books among the people, and an analysis of freely emerging schools. Teachers were invited to collaborate in the magazine, who viewed their work not only as a means of livelihood and a duty to teach children, but as an area of ​​testing for the science of pedagogy. Tolstoy published many of his articles in the magazine.

L.N. Tolstoy wrote 11 articles in which he showed the fallacy of the public education system in Tsarist Russia and in bourgeois countries Western Europe. He convincingly proved that the ruling classes neither in Russia nor in foreign countries do not care about the real education of children from the people.

Tolstoy wrote that Russian people need public education, public schools and colleges. The writer conceived the idea of ​​creating a “Society for Public Education”, the purpose of which was to spread education among the people. He was not able to fully realize his intention, but teachers from his school and neighboring peasant schools regularly gathered in his Yasnaya Polyana house, forming a team of like-minded people who became friends to implement progressive pedagogy in schools for peasant children. Their positive experience was covered in the Yasnaya Polyana magazine.

Here is an excerpt from Tolstoy's article that gives a good idea of ​​this school. “Lights in the windows have been visible from the school for a long time, and half an hour after the bell rings, in the fog, in the rain or in the slanting rays of the autumn sun, figures appear on the hillocks... figures, in twos, threes, and singly... Dear, I have almost never seen, for the students to play - something one of the youngest or newly admitted... No one carries anything with them - no books, no notebooks. Homework is not given. Not only do they carry nothing in their hands, they have nothing to carry in their heads either. He doesn’t have to remember any lesson, anything he did yesterday, today. He is not tormented by the thought of the upcoming lesson. He carries only his receptive nature and the confidence that school today will be just as fun as yesterday. He doesn't think about class until class has started. They never reprimand anyone for being late, and they are never late, except for the older ones, whom their fathers sometimes keep at home doing some kind of work. And then this big trot, out of breath, comes running to the school.”

However, the activities of Leo Tolstoy displeased the authorities. In the summer of 1862, during his departure for kumis treatment in Bashkiria, a search was carried out in Yasnaya Polyana. This greatly offended the writer and, as a sign of protest, he stopped his extremely interesting teaching activity.

In 1869, L.N. Tolstoy again took up teaching with passion. Lev Nikolaevich had been hatching the idea for a long time educational book for the little ones, and in 1872 the “ABC” compiled by him was published. Overall plan, its content and logical structure have been developed for quite some time. The writer often spoke about this activity with excitement: “I don’t know what will come of it, but I put my whole soul into it.” Tolstoy pinned his brightest and boldest hopes on the ABC, believing that several generations of Russian children, from peasants to royalty, would learn from it, receiving their first impressions.

“The ABC” by L.N. Tolstoy became an event in pedagogy. It largely justified the author’s hopes, although it seemed to many that primary education was an undertaking unworthy of the talent of a great writer. The significance of pedagogical work was not immediately understood and appreciated by his contemporaries. However, Tolstoy was convinced that the first stage of education begins spiritual development child. Will learning be joyful for the child, will he develop a selfless interest in cognitive activity whether he will subsequently put spiritual values ​​above material wealth - all this largely depends on his first steps in the world of knowledge. Development spiritual origin without school it can hardly take place. This priority task, more important than communicating a certain amount of knowledge. This is what Tolstoy sought to solve with his “ABC”. The book contained instructive stories on different topics, including about physics and nature. Much was imbued with religious themes.

In 1875, a revised „ New alphabet” and four “Books to Read”. “New ABC” – a new complex educational materials– was more universal, improved as a result of numerous disputes with opponents. She received a positive assessment in the press and was admitted by the Ministry of Education to public schools. During the life of the great writer, it went through over thirty editions. At the same time, Tolstoy compiled a textbook on arithmetic and worked a lot on the methods of primary education and other issues of the work of public schools.

Having developed his idea of ​​the content and methodology of public schools, L.N. Tolstoy in the 70s put forward his candidacy for the composition of the zemstvo of Krapivensky district. Once elected, he launches a variety of activities to create zemstvo schools and improve their work. Tolstoy becomes the head of schools in a large county. At the same time, L.N. Tolstoy developed a project for a peasant teachers’ seminary, which he jokingly called “a university in bast shoes.” In 1876, he received permission from the Ministry of Public Education to open a seminary, but, not finding support from the zemstvo, he was unable to implement this project.

Last period pedagogical activity L.N. Tolstoy dates back to the 90s. Tolstoy during this period based his education on his “Tolstoy” religion: the recognition that man carries God “in himself,” universal love for people, forgiveness, humility, non-resistance to evil through violence, a sharply negative attitude towards ritual religion, church religion. He recognizes the separation of upbringing from education as a mistake and believes that children are not only possible, but also necessary to be educated (which he denied in the 60s). In 1907-1908, L.N. Tolstoy asked to be allowed to teach at a Moscow evening school for working teenagers, but did not receive permission from the Ministry of Public Education.

The pedagogical activity of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy (1828-1910) began in 1849, when he taught literacy to the peasant children of Yasnaya Polyana. More active pedagogical work he began to conduct it in 1859, continuing it intermittently until the end of his life. Upon returning from the Crimean War, he opened a school in Yasnaya Polyana and helped organize several more peasant schools in nearby villages. Tolstoy entered, as he himself wrote about it later, a period of “three years of passion for this matter.” L.N. Tolstoy believed that the time had come (remember that Russia was then experiencing the period of the first revolutionary situation and the rise of the socio-pedagogical movement) when educated people countries should actively help the masses, who felt a great need for education, to satisfy this legitimate desire of theirs, not trusting such an important matter to the royal power.

In 1860, Tolstoy intended to establish an educational society. His task is to open schools for peasants, select teachers for them, draw up teaching courses and help teachers in their work.

Well aware that he was unlikely to obtain official permission for such a unification of social forces to create peasant schools, L. N. Tolstoy concluded by admitting that he would “form secret society" He was not able to fully realize his intention, but teachers from his school and neighboring peasant schools regularly gathered in his Yasnaya Polyana house, forming a team of like-minded people who came together to implement progressive pedagogy in schools for peasant children. Their positive experience was highlighted in the Yasnaya Polyana magazine published by the writer at that time, where his articles on public education and messages from teachers, previously discussed at their meetings under the leadership of L.P. Tolstoy, were published.

It is noteworthy that the secretary of the magazine was one of the teachers of the rural school, N.N. Peterson, a former student of I.N. Ulyanov, whom V.I. Lenin’s father highly valued for his progressive views and devotion to the people’s interests. N. N. Peterson was, apparently, a member of the secret revolutionary organization “Land and Freedom” and in 1866 he was brought to the inquiry in connection with Karakozov’s attempt on the life of the Tsar, but was released.

About ideological direction the activities of teachers of rural schools in the Krapivensky district of the Tula province, invited to work by L.N. Tolstoy, are evidenced by his articles on public education, published in the Yasnaya Polyana magazine.

Returning from abroad in the spring of 1861, Tolstoy sharply criticized bourgeois civilization, which is used by landowners, manufacturers and bankers for their own selfish interests. Tolstoy sharply criticized the contemporary school, which teaches what is not needed by the people, but is required by those who oppress and oppress the masses.

The Yasnaya Polyana school, opened by Tolstoy in 1859, was reorganized in the autumn of 1861. Her work was based on the opinion of L.N. Tolstoy about the free and fruitful creativity of children with the help of teachers. Despite its short-lived existence, the work of the school, which L.N. Tolstoy systematically covered in his pedagogical magazine Yasnaya Polyana, evoked a lively response in Russia and abroad and was an example to follow. But this direction of educational work in rural schools, established with the assistance of L.N. Tolstoy, caused fierce resistance from local landowners. Attacks began on schools and denunciations began to be made against teachers.

In the summer of 1862, in the absence of Tolstoy, gendarmes conducted a search at the Yasnaya Polyana school. This greatly offended the writer, and as a sign of protest, Tolstoy stopped his extremely interesting teaching activity.

In 1869, L.N. Tolstoy again took up teaching with passion. In 1872, Tolstoy’s “ABC” was published; in 1875, a revised “New ABC” and four “Books for Reading” were published. At the same time, he compiled a textbook on arithmetic and worked a lot on the methods of primary education and other issues of the work of public schools.

In his 1874 article “On Public Education,” he sharply criticized zemstvos for holding back the activity of peasants who were striving to create their own rural schools, preferring them to those who open zemstvos at the expense of the peasants, while insufficiently taking into account the interests of the peasant masses. And although in his criticism of zemstvo activities in public education, Tolstoy condensed too much dark colors, his speech in defense of the right of peasants to have their own voice in deciding the issue of raising their children was fair.

He also quite correctly criticizes the distortions in the matter of visual teaching in zemstvo schools and formalism in primary education in state schools.

Having developed his idea of ​​the content and methodology of public schools, L.N. Tolstoy in the 70s put forward his candidacy for the zemstvo of Krapivensky district. Having been elected, he launches here a variety of activities to create zemstvo schools and improve their work. Tolstoy becomes the head of schools in a large county.

In the 70s, Tolstoy again began teaching children in the Yasnaya Polyana house and developed a project for a peasant teachers’ seminary, which he jokingly called “a university in bast shoes.” In 1876, he received permission from the Ministry of Public Education to open a seminary, but, not finding support from the zemstvo, he was unable to implement this project.

The last period of Tolstoy's pedagogical activity dates back to the 90s and 900s. During this period, Tolstoy put his “Tolstoyian” religion as the basis of his education - the recognition that man carries God “in himself,” universal love for people, forgiveness, humility, non-resistance to evil through violence, a sharply negative attitude towards ritual, church religion. He recognizes his former separation of upbringing from education as a mistake and believes that children are not only possible, but also necessary to be educated (which he denied in the 60s). In 1907-1908 he taught classes with peasant children. During these years, L.N. Tolstoy asked to be allowed to teach at a Moscow evening school for working teenagers, but did not receive permission from the Ministry of Public Education.

Leo Tolstoy with peasant children in Yasnaya Polyana. Photo by Thomas Tapsel. 1909

How not to kill a baby with a pacifier

“There is no dispute, the matter is clear. And neither a mother can give a pacifier to her child if she does not want him to die, nor a father can allow his child to lie in the mud with a rag in his mouth, with that rag from which half of the children should die. Otherwise, father, everyone a kind person Having entered the house and seeing a child with a pacifier, he must take it out of the baby’s mouth and tell the mother about the evil that this pacifier does.
The pacifier killed more people in Rus' than the plague and cholera and all other diseases. We must arm ourselves against it and help each other destroy it.”

From Leo Tolstoy’s note “On the pacifier” in the brochure of Dr. Yegor Pokrovsky “On the care of small children”

What to do if you have too much

“A person who drank a bottle of wine, a glass of vodka or two mugs of beer the day before is in normal condition hangover or depression following excitement, and therefore in a mentally depressed state, which is further intensified by smoking. In order for a person who smokes and drinks constantly and in moderation to bring the brain into normal condition, he needs to stay at least a week or more without drinking wine or smoking. This almost never happens.”

From Leo Tolstoy’s article “Why do people become stupefied?”, preface to the book by Dr. Pyotr Alekseev “On Drunkenness”

What hats to wear on what occasions

"Alas! You are delusional that you have taste The letter is addressed to Valeria Arsenyeva (1836-1909), the Tolstoys’ neighbor. Lev Nikolaevich courted her for some time, in 1856 he even thought about getting married, regularly wrote long letters, but the relationship remained friendly and did not develop into something more serious.. That is, maybe there is, but there is no tact. For example, famous family outfits, like a blue hat with white flowers, are beautiful; but it is suitable for a lady who rides trotters in an English harness and enters her staircase with mirrors and camellias; but in a certain modest setting... a cab driver's carriage, etc., this same hat is ridi-kul-na Funny (from the French ridicule)., and in the village in a tarantass there’s nothing to say.”

How to eat baked potatoes

“Tolstoy loved baked potatoes. It was interesting to watch him eat it. First, he poured a small pile of salt on a plate, placed a piece of butter next to it, then took a large potato with a golden brown crust from a bowl covered with a white napkin and cut it in half. To avoid burning his fingers, he placed one half of it on the corner of the napkin that hugged his chest, and kept it in front of him in his left hand all the time. In his right hand he held a teaspoon, with which he broke off a piece of butter on a plate, and with it he touched the salt. After this, he took a piece of potato out of the skin with a spoon, blew on it to cool it, and then ate it. So, with great pleasure, he ate three potatoes.”

From Nina Nikitina’s book “ Everyday life Leo Tolstoy in Yasnaya Polyana"

What to do if you want to write

“When you want to write, restrain yourself with all your might, don’t sit down right away. I recommend this to you personal experience. Only when you can no longer bear it, when you are, as they say, ready to burst, do you sit down and write. You’ll probably write something good.”

From the diary of a writer, public figure Alexander Zhirkevich "Meetings with Tolstoy"

What to do if you have already started

“Write 1) in rough drafts, without thinking about the place and correctness of expression of thoughts; 2) rewrite once, eliminating everything superfluous and giving a real place to every thought, and 3) rewrite once, correcting incorrect expressions.”

From the diary of Leo Tolstoy, 1853

What to do if you’ve already started - 2

“Of course, quit! I tell this to everyone who is a beginner. This is my usual advice. Now is not the time to write. You need to do things, live exemplary lives and teach others how to live by your example. Give up literature if you want to obey the old man. Well for me! I will die soon... But you, beginners, have no need to waste time and become corrupted.”

How to dress if you are from the provinces

"…Eat famous women, almost like Shcherbacheva Shcherbacheva- aunt of Valeria Arsenyeva., and even much worse, which are like that elegance Grace (French). bright colors, disheveled coiffures and everything unusual - ermine mantles, crimson cloaks, etc. - always outdo you, and it only turns out that you look like them. And girls and women who lived little in big cities, are always wrong about this. There is a different kind elegance- modest, afraid of everything unusual, bright, but very demanding in small things, in details, like shoes, collars, gloves, cleanliness of nails, neatness of hair, etc., for which I stand like a mountain, if it does not take too much care away from the serious, and which every person who loves the elegant cannot help but love. Élégance bright colors is still forgivable, although funny, for the poor-nosed That is, nondescript. young ladies, but for you, with your pretty face, it is unforgivable to be mistaken like that. If I were you, I would make the rule of my toilet: simplicity, but the strictest grace in all the smallest details.”

When should you get married?

“At what age should you get married?” Such years that you won’t have time to fall in love with anyone before you fall in love with your wife or husband.”

Recording by Leo Tolstoy for the Yasnaya Polyana family “Mailbox”  “In the summer... we had a Mailbox. <…>It hung on the platform... and everyone put their works into it: poems, articles and stories written during the week on the topic of the day. On Sundays everyone gathered in the hall round table, the box was solemnly unlocked, and one of the elders, often even dad himself, read it aloud” (Ilya Tolstoy. “My Memoirs”)., from the memoirs of Ilya Tolstoy, the writer’s son

How to be happy

“I live wonderfully and I can safely recommend to everyone the following and only recipe for this: prepare to die. The more ready you are to die, the better it is to live, the easier it is to part with life and to remain in it.”

From a letter from Leo Tolstoy to his great-aunt Alexandra Tolstoy, 1888

How to understand the incomprehensible

“In order to understand any book, it is necessary to separate from it everything that is completely understandable from the incomprehensible and confusing, and from this isolated understandable thing, formulate an idea about the meaning and spirit of the entire book, and then, on the basis of what is completely understandable, figure out for yourself the places not entirely clear and confusing. This is how we read all kinds of books.”

How to become a good wife

“God help you, my darling, go forward, love, love not just me, but the whole world of God, people, nature, music, poetry and everything that is lovely in it, and develop your mind to be able to understand things, who are worthy of love in the world. Love is the main purpose and happiness in the world. Although, what I say is not at all relevant to our conversation, but here’s another great reason according to which a woman should develop. Besides the fact that a woman’s purpose is to be a wife, her main purpose is to be a mother, and in order to be a mother, and not a womb (do you understand this difference?), development is necessary.”

From a letter from Leo Tolstoy to Valeria Arsenyeva, 1856

How to live freely

“If you want to live calmly and freely, do not accustom yourself to unnecessary things, but wean yourself as much as you can from what you can do without.”

Lev Tolstoy. "The Way of Life", 1910

How to make people laugh

“When one of us told something that should have seemed funny or witty, and laughed himself at the same time, Father [Leo Tolstoy] said: “There are three grades of funny storytellers: the lowest grade are those who during their story, they themselves laugh, but the listeners do not laugh; The middle grade are those who laugh themselves, and the listeners laugh too, and the highest grade are those who do not laugh themselves, but only the listeners laugh.” In general, he advised, when you tell something like that, not to laugh yourself, otherwise the listeners will suddenly have boring faces and it will become awkward.”

From Sergei Tolstoy’s book “Essays on the Past”

How to use your mind to its full potential

“1) Whatever is determined to be fulfilled, do it no matter what. 2) Whatever you do, do it well. 3) Never consult a book if you have forgotten something, but try to remember it yourself. 4) Constantly force your mind to act with all its possible strength. 5) Read and think always loudly. 6) Don’t be ashamed to tell people who bother you that they are bothering you; first let him feel it, and if he doesn’t understand, then apologize and tell him so.”

From the diary of Leo Tolstoy, 1847

How to get out of a difficult situation

“L[ev] N[ikolaevich] once again said: “When they tell you about a difficult, complex matter, mainly about someone’s nasty things, answer this: did you make jam?” Or: would you like some tea? - that's all. A lot of evil comes from the so-called clarification of circumstances, or relationships."

How to learn languages

“He [Tolstoy] learns languages ​​in a very original way: he takes the Gospel in a language unknown to him and, while reading, learns to understand everything.”

From the book “Near Tolstoy” by Alexander Goldenweiser

How to argue correctly

“In order to argue and fruit to come out of the dispute, it is necessary that those arguing look in the same direction, so that they have the same goal (truth). We must understand what everyone wants to prove. And if it turns out that either one does not want to prove anything (very common), or that the goals prompting the disputants to argue are completely different, then the dispute should be stopped immediately. This must be clarified by example.”

From the diary of Leo Tolstoy, 1889

What to do if you don't like the situation

“In any case, determination is needed. If, despite all these favorable conditions, you are not happy where you live, try to arrange things better. Go abroad, get married, go to a monastery, live in a village, but don’t be indecisive for a second. This is the most difficult and even harmful condition.”

How to think better

“I remember how difficult it was for me to understand fractions. The impatient voice of Papa [Leo Tolstoy] only made matters worse.
- Two-fifths and three-fifths - how much will it be?
I'm silent.
Dad raises his voice:
- Two buns and three buns - how much will it be?
“Five rolls,” I say in a barely audible voice.
- Wonderful. Well, two-fifths and three-fifths - how much will it be?
But it's all in vain. I'm silent again. Tears well up in my eyes, and I’m ready to burst into tears. I'm afraid to answer that two and three fifths is five fifths and that this is equal to one. It seems too simple to me.
Dad notices my condition and softens.
- Well, jump!
I have known this system of his for a long time and therefore, without asking anything, I get up from my chair and, with tears still wet in my eyes, jump gloomily in one place. Indeed, my thoughts become clearer, and when I sit down again to study, I know without a doubt that two-fifths and three-fifths make five-fifths, which is equal to one unit.”

From the memoirs of Tatyana Sukhotina-Tolstaya 

Good evening, dear readers of the Sprint-Answer website. Today on our calendars is September 16, 2017, Saturday. This means that the TV game “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” is on the air on Channel One. In the article you can find out the answers to the most difficult questions, heard in the game "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" for today, 09/16/2017.

The first part of the program featured: Valdis Pelsh and Tatyana Arno. A fireproof amount has been selected - 800,000 rubles

Question 1 (500 rub.)
What is the reaction to the Mantoux test sometimes called?
A: "button"
B: loop
C: "zipper"
D: "lock"
The correct answer is A

Question 2 (RUB 1,000)
What tragedies did Pushkin write?
A: microscopic
B: miniature
C: small
D: tiny
The correct answer is C

Question 3 (RUB 2,000)
What is the name of the plant in the pumpkin family?
A: mad cucumber
B: crazy tomato
C: nutty eggplant
D: inadequate squash
The correct answer is A

Question 4 (RUB 3,000)
What doesn't have spans?
A: at the building's stairs
B: y railway track
C: at the bird's wing
D: y Palace Bridge
The correct answer is C

Question 5 (RUB 5,000)
What feature distinguishes the Sphynx cat?
A: does not meow
B: no hair
C: doesn't drink milk
D: asks riddles
The correct answer is B

Question 6 (RUB 10,000)
In which work the main character's name is Grigory Melikhov?
A: "Virgin Soil Upturned"
B: “Nakhalyonok”
C: " Quiet Don»
D: "Man's Destiny"
The correct answer is C

Question 7 (RUB 15,000)
Which country is considered the birthplace of yogurt?
A: Czech Republic
B: Serbia
C: Albania
D: Bulgaria
The correct answer is D

Question 8 (RUB 25,000)
King of what musical direction fans called BB King?
A: bit
B: blues
C: rock and roll
D: rap
The correct answer is B

Question 9 (RUB 50,000)
How many wings does a dragonfly have?
A: 2
B: 4
C: 6
D: 8
The correct answer is B

Question 10 (RUB 100,000)
What battle took place for the first time on April 24, 1918 near Villers-Bretonneux?
A: air
B: underwater
C: tank
D: anti-air
The players answer is B
The correct answer is C

Winning: 0 rub.

The following players participated in the second part of the program: Rovshan Askerov and Yuri Nikolaev. A fireproof amount has been selected - 400,000 rubles

Question 1 (500 rub.)
What does a chicken do with eggs?
A: saves
B: postpones
C: lends money
D: sells it to a pawnshop
The correct answer is B

Question 2 (RUB 1,000)
How do they talk about unhappy love?
A: Unfolded
B: unsubtracted
C: undivided
D: unmultiplied
The correct answer is C

Question 3 (RUB 2,000)
What kind of fish did Kostya the Sailor catch in popular song?
A: cod
B: flounder
C: red mullet
D: mullet
The correct answer is D

Question 4 (RUB 3,000)
What do voters give to a deputy?
A: order
B: order
C: order
D: failure
The correct answer is B

Question 5 (RUB 5,000)
Where, figuratively speaking, do completely surrounded troops end up?
A: in a jug
B: into the cauldron
C: into the boiler
D: into the can
The correct answer is C

Question 6 (RUB 10,000)
What is the name of autobiographical story Arkady Gaidar?
A: " Kindergarten»
B: "Gymnasium"
C: "School"
D: "University"
The correct answer is C

Question 7 (RUB 15,000)
In which sport is only pure playing time recorded?
A: Bandy
B: ice hockey
C: field hockey
D: football
The correct answer is B

Question 8 (RUB 25,000)
The city with what name existed and in pre-revolutionary Russia?
A: Krasnoyarsk
B: Krasnogorsk
C: Krasnodar
D: Krasnouralsk
The correct answer is A

Question 9 (RUB 50,000)
What document did the Stuttgart authorities issue to the bear Girl from Filatov's circus in 1972?
A: Bachelor's degree
B: driver's license
C: Zoo Pass
D: international passport
The correct answer is B

Question 10 (RUB 100,000)
To whom was “Ode to the wise Kyrgyz-Kaisak princess Felitsa, written by the Tatar Murza” actually written?
A: empress
B: to the princess
C: Countess
D: peasant woman
The correct answer is A

Question 11 (RUB 200,000)
What, according to Leo Tolstoy, was necessary for him to fruitful work?
A: coffee
B: tea
C: milk
D: kvass
The player takes the hint 50:50 - options B and C remain
Next, the players take the hint The right to make a mistake: the first answer is C, the second answer is B
The correct answer is B