A Very Russian Christmas Quotes

“And then what happens to all of us every day happened to him—he fell asleep without knowing himself when or how. He passed from one state into another without his will having any share in it, without even desiring it, and without regretting the state out of which he had passed. He fell into a heavy sleep which was like death. How long he had slept he did not know, but he was suddenly aroused by the soft touch of a hand upon his shoulder. “It is my darling, it is she,” he thought. “What a shame to have dozed off!” But it was not she. Before his eyes, which were wide open and blinking at the light, she, that charming and beautiful creature whom he was expecting, did not stand, but he stood. Who he was the young Tsar did not know, but somehow it did not strike him that he was a stranger whom he had never seen before.”
― Leo Tolstoy, A Very Russian Christmas: The Greatest Russian Holiday Stories of All Time

“But when she got up it was quite light, and it turned out to be half past nine. There had been a heavy fall of snow in the night; the trees were clothed in white, and the air was particularly light, transparent, and tender, so that when Anna Akimovna looked out of the window her first impulse was to draw a deep, deep breath. And when she had washed, a relic of faraway childish feelings—joy that today was Christmas—suddenly stirred within her. After that she felt lighthearted, free, and pure in soul, as though her soul, too, had been washed or plunged in the white snow. Masha came in, dressed up and tightly laced, and wished her a happy Christmas; then she spent a long time combing her mistress’s hair and helping her to dress. The fragrance and feeling of the new, gorgeous, splendid dress, its faint rustle, and the smell of fresh scent, excited Anna Akimovna.”
― Leo Tolstoy, A Very Russian Christmas: The Greatest Russian Holiday Stories of All Time

“He looked back on his past life, which had been so wretched. How had he been able to bear that terrible burden? He had borne it because through the darkness flickered a tiny star of hope. Once when he was alive he thought that perhaps a better lot might still be in store for him. But now that he had advanced toward the end, hope, too, was dead.”
― Leo Tolstoy, A Very Russian Christmas: The Greatest Russian Holiday Stories of All Time

“Did the Toyon not see that he, too, had been born like the others—with bright, open eyes, in which heaven and earth were reflected, and with a pure heart which was ready to hearken to all that was beautiful in the world. And if he longed now to hide his miserable and shameful self underground, it was no fault of his, nor did he know whose fault it was. The one thing he knew was that there was no patience left in his heart.”
― Leo Tolstoy, A Very Russian Christmas: The Greatest Russian Holiday Stories of All Time

“But in the course of the war they waged against the taiga, scorching it with fire, and attacking it with iron, Makar’s fathers and grandfathers, almost without knowing it, became themselves a rude part of it. They married Yakut women, and adopted the language and customs of their wives, their own features of the Russian race to which they belonged becoming obliterated and fading altogether with time.”
― Leo Tolstoy, A Very Russian Christmas: The Greatest Russian Holiday Stories of All Time

“The whole village has been drunk for the last three days. And as for feast days, it is simply horrible to think of! It has been proved conclusively that alcohol does no good in any case, but invariably does harm, and it has been demonstrated to be an absolute poison. Then, ninety-nine percent of the crimes in the world are committed through its influence. We all know how the standard of morality and the general welfare improved at once in all the countries where drinking has been suppressed—like Sweden and Finland, and we know that it can be suppressed by exercising a moral influence over the masses. But in our country the class which could exert that influence—the Government, the Tsar and his officials—simply encourage drink. Their main revenues are drawn from the continual drunkenness of the people. They drink themselves—they are always drinking the health of somebody: ‘Gentlemen, the Regiment!’ The priests drink, the bishops drink—”
― Leo Tolstoy, A Very Russian Christmas: The Greatest Russian Holiday Stories of All Time

“Vasilisa had not seen her daughter for four years. Her daughter, Yefimya, had gone after her wedding to Petersburg, had sent them two letters, and since then seemed to vanish out of their lives—there had been no sight or sound of her. And whether the old woman was milking her cow at dawn, or heating her stove, or dozing at night, she was always thinking of one and the same thing—what was happening to Yefimya, whether she was alive out yonder. She ought to have sent a letter, but the old father could not write, and there was no one to write.”
― Leo Tolstoy, A Very Russian Christmas: The Greatest Russian Holiday Stories of All Time

“The girls noticed that Volodia, who was generally so talkative and gay, seldom spoke now and never smiled and on the whole did not seem glad to be at home. He only addressed his sisters once during dinner and then his remark was strange. He pointed to the samovar and said: “In California they drink gin instead of tea.” He, too, seemed to be busy with thoughts of his own, and, to judge from the glances that the two boys occasionally exchanged, their thoughts were identical.”
― Leo Tolstoy, A Very Russian Christmas: The Greatest Russian Holiday Stories of All Time

“Let me speak at last,” she said. “For myself personally, I can’t conceive of love without family life. I am lonely, lonely as the moon in the sky, and a waning moon, too, and whatever you may say, I am convinced, I feel that this waning can only be restored by love in its ordinary sense. It seems to me that such love would define my duties, my work, make clear my conception of life. I want from love peace in soul, tranquility; I want the very opposite of musk, and spiritualism, and fin de siècle … in short”—she grew embarrassed—”a husband and children.”
― Leo Tolstoy, A Very Russian Christmas: The Greatest Russian Holiday Stories of All Time

“At one point, in the east, the mists grew lighter and were clad in gold, like warriors. Then the mists swayed, and the golden warriors bent low. From behind them the sun rose, settled upon the gilt mountain ridges and beamed upon the plain, flooding it with its dazzling brilliance. And the mists now soared triumphantly in a glorious ring, broke up in the west and, fluttering, drifted off into the heights above. Makar thought that he heard a marvelous song. It was the very hymn with which the earth greeted the rising sun every day. Only Makar had not paid attention to it before, and this was the first time in all his life that he realized how beautiful the song was. He stood still listening to it, and refused to go any farther. He could stand there forever listening to it”
― Leo Tolstoy, A Very Russian Christmas: The Greatest Russian Holiday Stories of All Time

“Being lost and dead he had only to lie still, and was no longer obliged to wander through the pathless taiga. Otherwise, what would have been the point in getting lost? “We’ll go to the Great Toyon!” “And why should I go to him?” asked Makar. “To be judged,” said the priest sadly, and in a somewhat sentimental tone of voice. Makar remembered that indeed after death one is supposed to appear somewhere at a judgment. He had heard it in church. The priest was right; there was no help for it, and he would have to get up. And so he rose, grumbling that there was no rest for a body even after death.”
― Leo Tolstoy, A Very Russian Christmas: The Greatest Russian Holiday Stories of All Time

“Stop, or I’ll shoot!” cried the soldier. The fugitive, without stopping, turned his head and called out something evidently abusive or blasphemous. “Damn you!” shouted the soldier, who put one foot a little forward and stopped, after which, bending his head over his rifle, and raising his right hand, he rapidly adjusted something, took aim, and, pointing the gun in the direction of the fugitive, probably fired, although no sound was heard. “Smokeless powder, no doubt,” thought the young Tsar, and looking after the fleeing man saw him take a few hurried steps, and bending lower and lower, fall to the ground and crawl on his hands and knees. At last he remained lying and did not move. The other fugitive, who was ahead of him, turned around and ran back to the man who was lying on the ground. He did something for him and then resumed his flight. “What does all this mean?” asked the Tsar. “These are the guards on the frontier, enforcing the revenue laws. That man was killed to protect the revenues of the State.” “Has he actually been killed?”
― Leo Tolstoy, A Very Russian Christmas: The Greatest Russian Holiday Stories of All Time

“Andrei Khrisanfitch returned to his room to smoke a little till there was another ring at the door, and Yefimya ceased speaking, subsided, and wiped her eyes, though her lips were still quivering. She was very much frightened of him—oh, how frightened of him! She trembled and was reduced to terror by the sound of his steps, by the look in his eyes, and dared not utter a word in his presence.”
― Leo Tolstoy, A Very Russian Christmas: The Greatest Russian Holiday Stories of All Time

“Afterward I could not help admiring the discrimination of the host and hostess in the distribution of the children’s presents. The little girl, who had already a portion of three hundred thousand rubles, received the costliest doll. Then followed presents diminishing in value in accordance with the rank of the parents of these happy children; finally, the child of lowest degree, a thin, freckled, red-haired little boy of ten, got nothing but a book of stories about the marvels of nature and tears of devotion, etc., without pictures or even woodcuts. He was the son of a poor widow, the governess of the children of the house, an oppressed and scared little boy. He was dressed in a short jacket of inferior nankeen. After receiving his book he walked around the other toys for a long time; he longed to play with the other children, but did not dare; it was evident that he already felt and understood his position. I”
― Leo Tolstoy, A Very Russian Christmas: The Greatest Russian Holiday Stories of All Time

“(In the Soviet Union, it was forbidden to celebrate Christmas. In order to keep the much beloved custom of the Christmas Tree—and oneself—alive, the New Year’s tree was born.)”
― Leo Tolstoy, A Very Russian Christmas: The Greatest Russian Holiday Stories of All Time