While there are a few pearls of wisdom scattered here and there in this collection, most of it is vague, shallow platitudenizing suitable for new age refrigerator-magnets. It stands as a warning that a mind of Tolstoy's caliber could have become so vulnerable to so much Sunday School poppycock.

Also: it's eye-rollingly repetitive.

And: the quotes are often Tolstoy's paraphrases rather than the actual words of the people he attributes them to... and sometimes they seem to be simplified in a way that does not respect the nuances of the original.