Quote by Leo Tolstoy: “Truth, like gold, is not to be obtained by its growth, but by washing away all that is not gold.”

This means that finding truth isn't about creating something new, but rather about removing false ideas and illusions until only the essential, genuine core remains. It's a process of elimination and purification.

Tolstoy argued that true art and true faith were often obscured by pretense and artificiality, advocating for a return to simple, universal truths by stripping away societal accretions and illusions.

Russian novelist and moral philosopher regarded as one of the greatest writers of all time. His epic novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina explored the full range of human experience in nineteenth-century Russia. In his later years he became a committed Christian anarchist and social reformer.