"We fell morally ill because we became used to saying something different from what we thought."
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Quote collection
Vaclav Havel quotes (page 7 of 9)
167 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"It's not hard to stand behind one's successes. But to accept responsibility for one's failures... that is devishly hard!"
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"Communism was overthrown by life, by thought, by dignity."
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"I am not sure one is capable of reflecting absurdity without having a strong sense of meaning. Absurdity makes sense only against a meaningful background. It is the deeper meaning that is shedding light on the absurdity. There must be a vanish point, a metaphysical horizon if you will where absurdity and meaning merge."
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"Those who rebelled against totalitarian rule and those who simply managed to remain themselves and think freely, were all persecuted. We should not forget any of those who paid for our present freedom in one way or another."
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"If a single writer in a country is in chains, then there are some links of that chain that binds us all."
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"Truth is not merely what we are thinking, but also why, to whom and under what circumstances we say it."
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"Man is not an omipotent master of the universe, allowed to do with impunity whatever he thinks, or whatever suits him at the moment. The world we live in is made of an immensely complex and mysterious tissue about which we know very little and which we must treat with utmost humility."
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"Life cannot be destroyed for good, neithercan history be brought entirely to a halt. A secret streamlet trickles on beneath the heavy lid of inertia and pseudo-events, slowly and inconspicuously undercutting it. It may be a long process, but one day it must happen: the lid will no longer hold and will start to crack. This is the moment when something once more begins visibly to happen, something truly new and uniquesomething truly historical, in the sense that history again demands to be heard."
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"English is the 'language of liberty' for nations emerging from years of cultural oppression."
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"There is only one Art, whose sole criterion is the power, the authenticity, the revelatory insight, the courage and suggestiveness with which it seeks its truth."
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"Sober perseverance is more effective than enthusiastic emotions, which are all too capable of being transferred, with little difficulty, to something different each day."
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"It is not enough to invent new machines, new regulations, or new institutions. We must understand differently and more perfectly the true purpose of our existence on this earth."
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"The idea of human rights and freedoms must be an integral part of any meaningful world order. Yet, I think it must be anchored in a different place, and in a different way, than has been the case so far. If it is to be more than just a slogan mocked by half the world, it cannot be expressed in the language of a departing era, and it must not be mere froth floating on the subsiding waters of faith in a purely scientific relationship to the world."
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"The real test of a man is not when he plays the role that he wants for himself but when he plays the role destiny has for him."
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"Man is in fact nailed down - like Christ on the Cross - to a grid of paradoxes. He balances between the torment of not knowing his mission and the joy of carrying it out, between nothingness and meaningfulness. And like Christ, he is in fact victorious by virtue of his defeats."
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"By perceiving ourselves as part of the river, we take responsibility for the river as a whole."
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"The truth is not simply what you think it is; it is also the circumstances in which it is said, and to whom, why, and how it is said."
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"There's always something suspect about an intellectual on the winning side."
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"Our country, if that is what we want, can now permanently radiate love, understanding, the power of the spirit and of ideas. It is precisely this glow that we can offer as our specific contribution to international politics."
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