A small red sailboat riding a wave of blue fabric beneath a pale sky and a curling trail of golden dots.

Original artwork, not a still

Leo Tolstoy

I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence. I wanted excitement and danger and the chance to sacrifice myself for my love. I felt in myself a superabundance of energy.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

The speaker longs for excitement, danger, and sacrifice for love instead of a calm existence. Describing an excess of energy gives those wishes a restless intensity. The passage presents a desire for experience large enough to match the force of feeling within.

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