Anna Karenina is a novel set in the high society of imperial Russia in the 1870s. Anna, a married woman of charm and intelligence, meets the dashing officer Vronsky, and their attraction brings her into conflict with her husband, her family and the strict judgments of her world. Alongside her story runs that of Levin, a thoughtful landowner who searches for love, purpose and faith in country life. Through these two lives Tolstoy explores marriage, desire, duty and honesty. It is admired for its psychological depth and its broad picture of Russian society.
Quotes
Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
Respect was invented to cover the empty place where love should be.
Stepan Arkadyevitch was a truthful man in his relations with himself. He was incapable of deceiving himself and persuading himself that he repented of his conduct.
and he liked his newspaper, as he did his cigar after dinner, for the slight fog it diffused in his brain.