Jan 31, 2011

the wisdom of tolstoy

I love this list of rules by Tolstoy; made when he was 18.  I'm just amazed it's only 10. I thought all Russian author lists were at least 100.
  1. Get up early (five o'clock)
  2. Go to bed early (nine to ten o'clock)
  3. Eat little and avoid sweets
  4. Try to do everything by yourself
  5. Have a goal for your whole life, a goal for one section of your life, a goal for a shorter period and a goal for the year; a goal for every month, a goal for every week, a goal for every day, a goal for every hour and for every minute, and sacrifice the lesser goal to the greater.
  6. Keep away from women
  7. Kill desire by work
  8. Be good, but try to let no one know it
  9. Always live less expensively than you might
  10. Change nothing in your style of living even if you become ten times richer
Personally I might also add 11, for some people; employ an editor.

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