On August 29th, when more than two thousand telegrams of congratulation arrived, Tolstoi said:
“I feel with joy that I have utterly lost the power of being interested in all this. In the past, I remember, I experienced a feeling of pride; I was glad at my success. But now—and I think it is not false modesty—it is a matter of absolute indifference to me. Perhaps it is because I have had too much success. It is like sweets: if you have too many, you feel surfeited. But one thing is pleasant: in nearly all the letters, congratulations, addresses, the same thing is repeated—it has simply become a truism—that I have destroyed religious delusions and opened the way for the search after truth. If it is true, it is just what I have wanted and tried to do all my life, and this is very dear to me.”
FOOTNOTE:
[14] Gregory Ivanovich Chertkov (1828-1884), Adjutant-General.
1909
February 10th. Once in the winter Sophie Andreevna in Tolstoi’s presence criticized V. G. Chertkov bitterly, which, as usual, pained him very much. This was in the morning. In the middle of the conversation Tolstoi got up and went into his room.
Some time later he came into the dining-room, stood at the door, and said in an agitated voice: