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On the Significance of Science and Art by Leo Nikoleyevich Tolstoy
page 53 of 81 (65%)
man or the artist (but in point of fact, they manufacture destroyers
of science and of art), who receives a diploma and a certificate,
who would be glad not to think and not to express that which is
imposed on his soul, but who cannot avoid doing that to which two
irresistible forces draw him,--an inward prompting, and the demand
of men.

There will be no sleek, plump, self-satisfied thinkers and artists.
Spiritual activity, and its expression, which are actually necessary
to others, are the most burdensome of all man's avocations; a cross,
as the Gospels phrase it. And the sole indubitable sign of the
presence of a vocation is self-devotion, the sacrifice of self for
the manifestation of the power that is imposed upon man for the
benefit of others.

It is possible to study out how many beetles there are in the world,
to view the spots on the sun, to write romances and operas, without
suffering; but it is impossible, without self-sacrifice, to instruct
people in their true happiness, which consists solely in
renunciation of self and the service of others, and to give strong
expression to this doctrine, without self-sacrifice.

Christ did not die on the cross in vain; not in vain does the
sacrifice of suffering conquer all things.

But our art and science are provided with certificates and diplomas;
and the only anxiety of all men is, how to still better guarantee
them, i.e., how to render the service of the people impracticable
for them.

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