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About This Author
My name is Joy, and I love to write. Why poetry, here? Because poetry uplifts its writer, and if she is lucky enough, her readers, too. Around us, so many objects abound to write about. Once a poet starts with a smallest, most trivial object, he shall discover that his pen will spill out what is most delicate or most majestic hidden inside him. Since the classics sometimes dealt with lofty subjects with a lofty language, a person with poetry in his soul may incline to emulate that. That is understandable. Poetry does that to a person: it enlarges the soul and gives it wings. Yet, to really soar, a poet needs to take off from the ground. Kiya's gift. I love it!
Everyday Canvas
#1074611 added July 31, 2024 at 12:39pm
Restrictions: None
On a Quote
Prompt: " There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness and truth." Leo Tolstoy
Write about this quote in your Blog entry today.


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No offense to Tolstoy, but who really knows what true greatness is! Truth is, I do like Tolstoy's novels a lot, since they were favorites of mine, after Dostoyevski's work, during my adoration of the Russian literature period when I was quite young. Looking at this quote and Tolstoy's other writings, I now wonder what he has said had anything to do with, probably, his denial or dislike of his own aristocratic background.

Getting back to the quote, simplicity, goodness and truth are certainly fine attributes as they suggest, honesty, clarity, commitment to reality, and being true and kind to oneself and others. Still, where goodness is concerned, I bet everyone has a personal definition of it in their minds that may differ from other people's definition of it. Just think of the expression of "Oh, My Goodness!" and how its meaning varies from person to person and from situation to situation.

Then, for me, of those greatness elements of Tolstoy's, simplicity is the most doable. The others do not fall far behind either, but in my opinion, the better values we embody usually start with or have something to do with simplicity, for simplicity encourages a humble, ethical, and authentic approach to life. It may also be a sign of the vision of a kind of greatness that transcends fake, temporary, or superficial achievements. This is, as long as the word simplicity doesn't suggest being brainless and empty, as some may believe.



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