Count Leo Tolstoy to Valeria Arsenev

Count Leo Tolstoy (September 9, 1828 - November 20, 1910) was a Russian novelist and political thinker most important for his contributions to the Russian novel.

Along with Fyodor Dostoevsky, Tolstoy was one of the giants of 19th Century Russian literature. His more famous works include the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, and many shorter works, including the novella The Death of Ivan Illych and "Ivan the Fool".

Tolstoy was an extremely wealthy member of the Russian nobility. He came to believe that he was undeserving of his inherited wealth, and was renowned among the peasantry for his generosity. He would frequently return to his country estate with vagrants whom he felt needed a helping hand, and would often dispense large sums of money to street beggars while on trips to the city, much to his wife's chagrin. When he died in 1910, thousands of peasants turned out to line the streets at his funeral.

Count Leo Tolstoy wrote this letter to Valeria Arsenev, his fiance.

November 2, 1856

I already love in you your beauty, but I am only beginning to love in you that which is eternal and ever precious - your heart, your soul. Beauty one could get to know and fall in love with in one hour and cease to love it as speedily; but the soul one must learn to know. Believe me, nothing on earth is given without labour, even love, the most beautiful and natural of feelings.