A Calendar of Wisdom: Daily Thoughts to Nourish the Soul, Written and Selected from the World's Sacred Texts Hardcover – October 14, 1997

A beautiful literary work coming from different voices of humanity through the spiritual guidance of Tolstoy.

Dazzling

This is a great way to get a daily dose of philosophy in a way that isn’t overwhelming. Well put together thoughts that are practical and helpful.

Do you like quotations from important historical and philosophical figures? Then, this is a book for you. It seems that Tolstoy initially put together these for himself. It is a useful book to add to your library but I wished I had known about its content before buying.

This is a must have for Tolstoy lovers. A daily dose of insight, philosophy, deep meaningful thoughts and more. My new favorite daily calendar. Tolstoy’s favorite book he wrote.

I'm so glad to have found this book, a rare book in America, here for the first time in English (recently), apparently. It was one of Tolstoy's very last works (THE last?), and he stated that it was his favorite of his own books. Which was humble of him to say, because it's probably at least half composed of various quotations and sayings of wisdom from a wide array of philosophers, Christian, non-Christian, and even secular. The other half or so of the book is his own thoughts and messages to us. It's structured as a "daily devotional", and each day's entry has a particular topic or theme--the main points of which are (in this edition, though apparently not in the original work of Tolstoy's) conveniently italicized for us. Tolstoy was imperfect and inconsistent just like every other genius. (What IS "consistency"? Even machines and robots and assembly-lines make mistakes...) But he was much to be admired, I feel, for his often radical stands for conscience and truth in a typically corrupt contemporary society--in his case, Russia's. He made many controversial but impressive decisions (giving away much of his wealth, starting at least one Christian community, and voluntarily becoming a laborer, though he was by birth a privileged Count and aristocrat); he wrote many controversial works (like "The Kreutzer Sonata", a short story which was mostly a diatribe against lust and sexual politics, and which even encouraged celibacy in marriages!), and made many controversial statements (for instance, calling his two earlier, famous, epic novels "Anna Karenina" and "War & Peace", "the works of an idle mind," if memory serves.) He was a genuinely born-again Christian, but he was uncommonly friendly and open-minded toward other faiths and philosophers, as long as he discerned in them a genuine interest in truth and love. This book shows how "ecumenical" (in the best sense of that word) he came to be, in his old age. Yes, he might be divisive, but he was an honest seeker of truth, and I look forward to meeting him in Heaven. This "daily devotional"--a swan song, of sorts--is attractively typeset, formatted, and bound, and (most importantly) will surely give the seeker of truth many wise words & perspectives to meditate upon.

The content of this book is a treasure, and it is filled with great information that will give one the wisdom to live life better and appreciate the important things. The binding is horrible. I have ordered two of these books and the binding has failed on both.

Everyone knows Tolstoy for War and Peace, Anna Karenina, and The Death of Ivan Ilyich; many readers don't know the short stories Tolstoy; the Confession Tolstoy; the political Tolstoy.A calander of Wisdom is a shining example of the deep learning of the Russian master Tolstoy, and also of his devotion to his faith in scripture and the Bible.If you wish to educate yourself, start here.- JBD