War and Peace Quotes
The 6 most famous lines from Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace (1869), each with its speaker and the scene it belongs to. These are the quotes readers underline, copy into essays and put on walls - gathered in one place, explained in a line.
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“We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom.”
- Pierre. Echoing Socrates after the Masonic lessons.
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“The strongest of all warriors are these two — Time and Patience.”
- Narrator. The novel's philosophy of how the war is actually won.
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“If everyone fought for nothing but his own convictions, there would be no wars.”
- Pierre. Musing before Borodino.
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“There is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness and truth.”
- Narrator. On Kutuzov and on real leadership.
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“Seize the moments of happiness, love and be loved! That is the only reality in the world, that is all we know.”
- Pierre. What the whole novel teaches him.
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“Pure and complete sorrow is as impossible as pure and complete joy.”
- Narrator. In the aftermath of Andrei's wound.
Why these lines survive
Leo Tolstoy’s sentences earn their fame by compression: each line carries the whole book’s argument in a form you can carry in your pocket. Read in order, the 6 quotes above also sketch the novel’s shape - the world it opens, the pressure it applies, the note it ends on. If you meet them before the book, nothing is spoiled beyond mood; if you meet them after, each one lands like a place you have been.
Quote collectors: pair this page with the War and Peace quiz to see which lines actually stuck, the book club questions when you want to argue about them, or how long the reread takes - about 39 hours and 17 minutes at an average pace. If the lines did their job and you want more of the same nerve, the books like War and Peace list is next.
Want the whole shelf’s lines? Our Leo Tolstoy books in order guide lists every book.
How to use a quotes page
Three honest uses. Before reading: skim the first two quotes to taste the prose - if the voice does not pull you, the book will not either. During: mark which quote you actually reach in the text, because the distance between famous line and lived scene is where a book keeps its secrets. After: pick the one quote you would defend at dinner and check it against the discussion questions - a quote you can argue about is a quote you understood. What a quotes page is not for is replacing the book; five lines of Leo Tolstoy are an invitation, not a summary.
More quote collections
Anna Karenina quotes, Crime and Punishment quotes - or browse quotes from all 133 classics. Then see which of them stuck on the original book quiz.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most famous quote from War and Peace?
“We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom.” - the line most readers meet first. The full list above gives the scene for every one of the 6.
How many War and Peace quotes are here?
6, chosen because they are the lines readers actually underline and repeat - each with who says it and where it lands in the book.
Are these quotes explained?
Yes - every quote carries its speaker and a one-line context, because a quote without its scene loses most of its charge.
Can I use these in an essay or post?
Short quoted lines with attribution are standard fair use in essays and posts. Quote accurately, name the author, and you are on solid ground.
Are these War and Peace quotes word-for-word accurate?
They are checked against the novel as written, not harvested from quote sites - which is why a few famous “lines” you may have seen elsewhere are missing here: many of those come from film adaptations or paraphrase the prose. What is listed above is the book.