|

|

Advertisements

Vaclav Havel Quotes

You can’t spend your whole life criticizing something and then, when you have the chance to do it better, refuse to go near it Picture Quote #1

It would appear that the traditional parliamentary democracies can offer no fundamental opposition to that automatism of technological civilization and the industrial-consumer society, for they too are being dragged helplessly along by it. People are manipulated in ways that are infinitely more subtle and refined than the brutal methods used in post-totalitarian societies Picture Quote #1

English is the ‘language of liberty’ for nations emerging from years of cultural oppression Picture Quote #1

I do think Russian foreign policy is very savvy. There’s a need for great caution because the Russians are able to discreetly blackmail countries Picture Quote #1

I think it’s important for one to take a certain distance from oneself Picture Quote #1

Theater is there to search for questions. It doesn’t give you instructions Picture Quote #1

Advertisements

Hope is a state of mind, not of the world. Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously heading for success, but rather an ability to work for something because it is good Picture Quote #1

Human beings are compelled to live within a lie, but they can be compelled to do so only because they are in fact capable of living in this way. Therefore not only does the system alienate humanity, but at the same time alienated humanity supports this system as its own involuntary master plan, as a degenerate image of its own degeneration, as a record of people's own failure as individuals Picture Quote #1

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. Thus, from the standpoint of the work and its worth it is irrelevant to which political ideas the artist as a citizen claims allegiance, which ideas he would like to serve with his work or whether he holds any such ideas at all Picture Quote #1

It cannot suffice to invent new machines, new regulations, new institutions. It is necessary to change and improve our understanding of the true purpose of what we are and what we do in the world. Only such a new understanding will allow us to develop new models of behavior, new scales of values and goals, and thereby invest the global regulations, treaties and institutions with a new spirit and meaning Picture Quote #1

You do not become a dissident just because you decide one day to take up this most unusual career. You are thrown into it by your personal sense of responsibility, combined with a complex set of external circumstances. You are cast out of the existing structures and placed in a position of conflict with them. It begins as an attempt to do your work well, and ends with being branded an enemy of society Picture Quote #1

This is a confusing and uncertain period, when a thousand wise words can go completely unnoticed, and one thoughtless word can provoke an utterly nonsensical furor Picture Quote #1

Advertisements

The law is only one of several imperfect and more or less external ways of defending what is better in life against what is worse. By itself, the law can never create anything better. Establishing respect for the law does not automatically ensure a better life for that, after all, is a job for people and not for laws and institutions Picture Quote #1

True enough, the country is calm. Calm as a morgue or a grave, would you not say? Picture Quote #1

A state that denies its citizens their basic rights becomes a danger to its neighbors as well: internal arbitrary rule will be reflected in arbitrary external relations. The suppression of public opinion, the abolition of public competition for power and its public exercise opens the way for the state power to arm itself in any way it sees fit. A state that does not hesitate to lie to its own people will not hesitate to lie to other states Picture Quote #1

Twenty or thirty years ago, in the army, we had a lot of obscure adventures, and years later we tell them at parties, and suddenly we realize that those two very difficult years of our lives have become lumped together into a few episodes that have lodged in our memory in a standardized form, and are always told in a standardized way, in the same words. But in fact that lump of memories has nothing whatsoever to do with our experience of those two years in the army and what it has made of us Picture Quote #1

The dissident does not operate in the realm of genuine power at all. He is not seeking power. He has no desire for office and does not gather votes. He does not attempt to charm the public, he offers nothing and promises nothing. He can offer, if anything, only his own skin - and he offers it solely because he has no other way of affirming the truth he stands for. His actions simply articulate his dignity as a citizen, regardless of the cost Picture Quote #1

Because the regime is captive to its own lies, it must falsify everything. It falsifies the past. It falsifies the present, and it falsifies the future. It falsifies statistics. It pretends not to possess an omnipotent and unprincipled police apparatus. It pretends to respect human rights. It pretends to prosecute no one. It pretends to fear nothing. It pretends to pretend nothing Picture Quote #1

Advertisements

The only salvation of the world today... Is the rapid dissemination of the basic values of the west, that is, the ideas of democracy, human rights, the civil society, and the free market Picture Quote #1

Truth is not merely what we are thinking, but also why, to whom and under what circumstances we say it Picture Quote #1

There can be no doubt that distrust of words is less harmful than unwarranted trust in them. Besides, to distrust words, and indict them for the horrors that might slumber unobtrusively within them - isn't this, after all, the true vocation of the intellectual? Picture Quote #1

People have passed through a very dark tunnel at the end of which there was a light of freedom. Unexpectedly they passed through the prison gates and found themselves in a square. They are now free and they don't know where to go Picture Quote #1

Those that say that individuals are not capable of changing anything are only looking for excuses Picture Quote #1

If the world is to change for the better it must start with a change in human consciousness, in the very humanness of modern man Picture Quote #1

Advertisements

A genuinely fundamental and hopeful improvement in systems cannot happen without a significant shift in human consciousness Picture Quote #1

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 Picture Quote #1

The real test of a man is not how well he plays the role he has invented for himself, but how well he plays the role that destiny assigned to him Picture Quote #1

Sober perseverance is more effective than enthusiastic emotions, which are all too capable of being transferred, with little difficulty, to something different each day Picture Quote #1

Without the constantly living and articulated experience of absurdity, there would be no reason to attempt to do something meaningful. And on the contrary, how can one experience one's own absurdity if one is not constantly seeking meaning? Picture Quote #1

People who live in the post-totalitarian system know only too well that the question of whether one or several political parties are in power, and how these parties define and label themselves, is of far less importance than the question of whether or not it is possible to live like a human being Picture Quote #1

1 2 3 4 5

Friendship Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

Advertisements

Text Quotes

You can’t spend your whole life criticizing something and then, when you have the chance to do it better, refuse to go near it. (Vaclav Havel Quotes) It would appear that the traditional parliamentary democracies can offer no fundamental opposition to that automatism of technological civilization and the industrial-consumer society, for they too are being dragged helplessly along by it. People are manipulated in ways that are infinitely more subtle and refined than the brutal methods used in post-totalitarian societies. (Vaclav Havel Quotes) English is the ‘language of liberty’ for nations emerging from years of cultural oppression. (Vaclav Havel Quotes) I do think Russian foreign policy is very savvy. There’s a need for great caution because the Russians are able to discreetly blackmail countries. (Vaclav Havel Quotes) I think it’s important for one to take a certain distance from oneself (Vaclav Havel Quotes) Theater is there to search for questions. It doesn’t give you instructions. (Vaclav Havel Quotes) Hope is a state of mind, not of the world. Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously heading for success, but rather an ability to work for something because it is good. (Vaclav Havel Quotes) Human beings are compelled to live within a lie, but they can be compelled to do so only because they are in fact capable of living in this way. Therefore not only does the system alienate humanity, but at the same time alienated humanity supports this system as its own involuntary master plan, as a degenerate image of its own degeneration, as a record of people's own failure as individuals (Vaclav Havel Quotes) 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. Thus, from the standpoint of the work and its worth it is irrelevant to which political ideas the artist as a citizen claims allegiance, which ideas he would like to serve with his work or whether he holds any such ideas at all (Vaclav Havel Quotes) It cannot suffice to invent new machines, new regulations, new institutions. It is necessary to change and improve our understanding of the true purpose of what we are and what we do in the world. Only such a new understanding will allow us to develop new models of behavior, new scales of values and goals, and thereby invest the global regulations, treaties and institutions with a new spirit and meaning (Vaclav Havel Quotes) You do not become a dissident just because you decide one day to take up this most unusual career. You are thrown into it by your personal sense of responsibility, combined with a complex set of external circumstances. You are cast out of the existing structures and placed in a position of conflict with them. It begins as an attempt to do your work well, and ends with being branded an enemy of society (Vaclav Havel Quotes) This is a confusing and uncertain period, when a thousand wise words can go completely unnoticed, and one thoughtless word can provoke an utterly nonsensical furor (Vaclav Havel Quotes) The law is only one of several imperfect and more or less external ways of defending what is better in life against what is worse. By itself, the law can never create anything better. Establishing respect for the law does not automatically ensure a better life for that, after all, is a job for people and not for laws and institutions (Vaclav Havel Quotes) True enough, the country is calm. Calm as a morgue or a grave, would you not say? (Vaclav Havel Quotes) A state that denies its citizens their basic rights becomes a danger to its neighbors as well: internal arbitrary rule will be reflected in arbitrary external relations. The suppression of public opinion, the abolition of public competition for power and its public exercise opens the way for the state power to arm itself in any way it sees fit. A state that does not hesitate to lie to its own people will not hesitate to lie to other states (Vaclav Havel Quotes) Twenty or thirty years ago, in the army, we had a lot of obscure adventures, and years later we tell them at parties, and suddenly we realize that those two very difficult years of our lives have become lumped together into a few episodes that have lodged in our memory in a standardized form, and are always told in a standardized way, in the same words. But in fact that lump of memories has nothing whatsoever to do with our experience of those two years in the army and what it has made of us (Vaclav Havel Quotes) The dissident does not operate in the realm of genuine power at all. He is not seeking power. He has no desire for office and does not gather votes. He does not attempt to charm the public, he offers nothing and promises nothing. He can offer, if anything, only his own skin - and he offers it solely because he has no other way of affirming the truth he stands for. His actions simply articulate his dignity as a citizen, regardless of the cost (Vaclav Havel Quotes) Because the regime is captive to its own lies, it must falsify everything. It falsifies the past. It falsifies the present, and it falsifies the future. It falsifies statistics. It pretends not to possess an omnipotent and unprincipled police apparatus. It pretends to respect human rights. It pretends to prosecute no one. It pretends to fear nothing. It pretends to pretend nothing (Vaclav Havel Quotes) The only salvation of the world today... Is the rapid dissemination of the basic values of the west, that is, the ideas of democracy, human rights, the civil society, and the free market (Vaclav Havel Quotes) Truth is not merely what we are thinking, but also why, to whom and under what circumstances we say it (Vaclav Havel Quotes) There can be no doubt that distrust of words is less harmful than unwarranted trust in them. Besides, to distrust words, and indict them for the horrors that might slumber unobtrusively within them - isn't this, after all, the true vocation of the intellectual? (Vaclav Havel Quotes) People have passed through a very dark tunnel at the end of which there was a light of freedom. Unexpectedly they passed through the prison gates and found themselves in a square. They are now free and they don't know where to go (Vaclav Havel Quotes) Those that say that individuals are not capable of changing anything are only looking for excuses (Vaclav Havel Quotes) If the world is to change for the better it must start with a change in human consciousness, in the very humanness of modern man (Vaclav Havel Quotes) A genuinely fundamental and hopeful improvement in systems cannot happen without a significant shift in human consciousness (Vaclav Havel Quotes) 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 (Vaclav Havel Quotes) The real test of a man is not how well he plays the role he has invented for himself, but how well he plays the role that destiny assigned to him (Vaclav Havel Quotes) Sober perseverance is more effective than enthusiastic emotions, which are all too capable of being transferred, with little difficulty, to something different each day (Vaclav Havel Quotes) Without the constantly living and articulated experience of absurdity, there would be no reason to attempt to do something meaningful. And on the contrary, how can one experience one's own absurdity if one is not constantly seeking meaning? (Vaclav Havel Quotes) People who live in the post-totalitarian system know only too well that the question of whether one or several political parties are in power, and how these parties define and label themselves, is of far less importance than the question of whether or not it is possible to live like a human being (Vaclav Havel Quotes)

1 2 3 4 5