Anyone who takes himself too seriously always runs the risk of looking ridiculous; anyone who can consistently laugh at himself does not. Vaclav Havel More Quotes by Vaclav Havel More Quotes From Vaclav Havel There's always something suspect about an intellectual on the winning side. Vaclav Havel intelligent hero winning True enough, the country is calm. Calm as a morgue or a grave, would you not say? Vaclav Havel calm oppression country The cliché organizes life; it expropriates people's identity; it becomes ruler, defense lawyer, judge, and the law. Vaclav Havel judging law people The United Nations would probably have to rest on two pillars: one constituted by an assembly of equal executive representatives of individual countries, resembling the present plenary, and the other consisting of a group elected directly by the globe's population in which the number of delegates representing individual nations would, thus, roughly correspond to the size of the nations. Vaclav Havel numbers two country I think its important for one to take a certain distance from oneself. Vaclav Havel distance important thinking When a person tries to act in accordance with his conscience, when he tries to speak the truth, when he tries to behave like a citizen, even in conditions where citizenship is degraded, it won't necessarily lead anywhere, but it might. There's one thing, however, that will never lead anywhere, and that is speculating that such behavior will lead somewhere. Vaclav Havel citizens trying might 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 law jobs people It was never the people who complained of the universality of human rights, nor did the people consider human rights as a Western or Northern imposition. It was often their leaders who did so. Vaclav Havel leader rights people My dear fellow citizens: For forty years you have heard from my predecessors on this day different variations of the same theme: how our country flourished, how many millions of tons of steel we produced, how happy we all were, how we trusted our government, and what bright perspectives were unfolding in front of us. I assume you did not propose me for this office so that I, too, would lie to you. Vaclav Havel war country lying 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. Vaclav Havel understanding country ideas 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 political ideas art Ownership is not a vice, not something to be ashamed of, but rather a commitment, and an instrument by which the general good can be served. Vaclav Havel ownership vices commitment 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. Vaclav Havel christ-on-the-cross knowing men By perceiving ourselves as part of the river, we take responsibility for the river as a whole. Vaclav Havel taking-responsibility responsibility rivers If a single writer in a country is in chains, then there are some links of that chain that binds us all. Vaclav Havel chains-that-bind links country Time and time again I have been persuaded that a huge potential of goodwill is slumbering within our society. It's just that it's incoherent, suppressed, confused, crippled and perplexed. Vaclav Havel goodwill confused society I have read somewhere that in a totalitarian system martyrdom does better than thought. Vaclav Havel martyrdom totalitarianism doe I cannot imagine that I could strive for something if I did not carry hope in me. Vaclav Havel hopeful strive imagine If I have accomplished anything good, then it's mainly because I've been driven by the need to know whether I can accomplish things I'm not sure I have the capacity for. Vaclav Havel driven accomplishment needs I have preserved my identity, put its credibility to the test and defended my dignity. What good this will bring the world I don't know. But for me it is good. Vaclav Havel tests identity world
