Note 291 — 1898

To avoid misunderstanding as to whom this remark of Tolstoi’s refers, it is proper here to cite an extract from another one of his writings: “They say that defence is impossible under non-resistance; but the Christian does not need any defence. All that an evil-doer can do is to deprive one of property, to kill, and a Christian is not afraid of that. The Christian not worrying about what to eat, what to drink, what to wear, and knowing that without the will of the Father not a hair will fall from his head, the Christian has no need to use violence against the evil-doer. The evil-doer can do nothing to him.” (From the rough draft of The Kingdom of God Within Us, 1890–1893, with later corrections by Tolstoi made during a revision of his Complete Collection of Thoughts.)