Love &
Marriage

Tolstoy notoriously obliged her [Sofia] to read and later copy, his own diaries, including passages concerning his debauched past, so that there would be no misunderstanding between them. His confession (influenced by Rousseau) became her hurt. She, a well-brought-up young lady, had no past at all. They also had different views on love:

"I copied Lyovochka's [Leo's] diaries up to the part where he wrote 'There is no such thing as love, only the physical need for intercourse and the practical need for a life companion.'

"I only wish I had read that twenty-nine years ago, then I would never have married him."

--- Review of The Diaries of Sofia Tolstoy
Barbara Heldt
The TLS 22 January 2010