“When it is impossible to stretch the very elastic threads of historical ratiocination any farther, when actions are clearly contrary to all that humanity calls right or even just, the historians produce a saving conception of ‘greatness.’ ‘Greatness,’ it seems, excludes the standards of right and wrong. For the ‘great’ man nothing is wrong, there is no atrocity for which a ‘great’ man can be blamed.”

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About Leo Tolstoy

Russian writer

Leo Tolstoy was a Russian writer. Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, he lived in the 19th and early 20th centuries and is known in English as Leo Tolstoy. He is regarded as one of the most influential authors of all time. His work has shaped later literature and readers continue to return to his writing for its scope and force.

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