The strongest of all warriors are these two - Time and Patience. ── Leo Tolstoy

 The strongest of all warriors are these two - Time and Patience. ── Leo Tolstoy 

所有戰士中最強大的是這兩位：時間和耐心。 ── 列夫‧托爾斯泰

 The above quotation is taken from the novel “War and Peace”（《戰爭與和平》） by Russian（俄羅斯）writer Leo Tolstoy. The novel was published in 1869, and is regarded as Tolstoy’s great epic. Today it is still one of the greatest novels in the history of world literature. In 2003, the book was listed at No. 20 in a BBC（英國廣播公司）survey on the best-loved novel in the United Kingdom. 

The novel focuses on the fates of five Russian noble families during the war against Napoleon（拿破崙）, the famous French military and political leader. It covers many themes such as love and forgiveness, war and patriotism, and success and failure. 

The author Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) was born into a wealthy noble family. However, his parents passed away when he was a child, so he was brought up by his relatives. Tolstoy did not do very well at university and left without a degree. 

He spent time travelling in various cities, and led a corrupt life, gambling and drinking. Later, his brother convinced him to join the army. During this time, he started writing. Years later, he left the army and focussed on writing. 

Tolstoy was not only a great writer, but also a moral thinker and a social reformer. When he was about forty years old, he reflected on the meaning of life, and religion. Eventually, he broke from his noble class and developed a simple and strict lifestyle. His ideas of non-violent resistance influenced Mahatma Gandhi（聖雄甘地）, a famous political figure in the 20th century. Tolstoy also built schools for his peasants’ children, and offered free meals for the poor. 

 Epic： 長篇巨著

Noble： 貴族

Patriotism： 愛國主義

Corrupt： 腐化的

Moral thinker： 道德思想家

Social reformer： 社會改革家

Non-violent resistance： 非暴力對抗

Peasants： 農民