托尔斯泰早年曾耽于贵族的享乐生活，年届五旬则感到了某种困惑："生活停顿下来了，仿佛自己不知道该怎样生活，或该做些什么；我感到茫然，不知所措，人也变得忧郁了......"他开始进行严格地自省，深刻剖析灵魂中最隐秘的东西，表达了愿意做一个平凡的人，过清教徒式的简朴生活的愿望。托尔斯泰的这部《忏悔录》与奥古斯丁和卢梭的《忏悔录》齐名，并称为世界三大《忏悔录》。（Tolstoy indulges in noble enjoyment of life in his early fifty years, and he feels of some kind of confusion: "life has paused, as though you don't know how to live, or what to do; I felt lost and confused; I also become sad..." He launches strict introspection and profound analysis of the most secretive of the soul, and expresses his willingness to be an ordinary person, to live a simple life as the Puritan. Tolstoy's Confession together with Augustine and Rousseau's Confession are called three Confession in the world.）