The cliché organizes life; it expropriates people's identity; it becomes ruler, defense lawyer, judge, and the law. Vaclav Havel More Quotes by Vaclav Havel More Quotes From Vaclav Havel The role of the writer is not simply to arrange Being according to his own lights; he must also serve as a medium to Being and remain open to its often unfathomable dictates. This is the only way the work can transcend its creator and radiate its meaning... Vaclav Havel roleslightway The award is destined for scientists who do not fear to touch on some of the darkest aspects of being without betraying what they have achieved. On the contrary, they head in this direction. Vaclav Havel scientistbetrayalawards 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 slumberintellectualdoubt 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 partyadventurememories People, your Government has returned to you! Vaclav Havel governmentpeople What's certain is that a totalitarian enclave like Cuba's can't continue to exist, so change will definitely come there, eventually. Vaclav Havel cubacertain In my opinion, theater shouldn't give advice to citizens. Vaclav Havel citizensadvicegiving Evil must be confronted in its womb, and, if it can't be done otherwise, then it has to be dealt with by the use of force. Vaclav Havel doneuseevil There's a dilemma over how to balance concrete economic interests with critical opinions on the state of human rights. It's the human rights that suffer, and that's a great price to pay. Vaclav Havel balancesufferingrights The attempt to devote oneself to literature alone is a most deceptive thing, and ... often, paradoxically, it is literature that suffers for it. Vaclav Havel hygieneliteraturesuffering I personally think President [Hosni] Mubarak, who's done a lot for Egypt, should acknowledge that his time has come and step down right away. Vaclav Havel egyptpresidentthinking Without free, self-respecting, and autonomous citizens there can be no free and independent nations. Vaclav Havel respectindependentself President Murabak has been a U.S. ally for decades. He was a guarantor of some degree of peace in the Middle East and has kept a good relationship with the Western world. Vaclav Havel good-relationshipdegreespresident The deeper the experience of an absence of meaning - in other words, of absurdity - the more energetically meaning is sought. Vaclav Havel meaning-of-lifeheroabsence Barack Obama is president of a superpower and I'm a citizen of a small state. Vaclav Havel citizensstatespresident To serve grand ideas with a major work is not bad, nor is it all there's to art. Vaclav Havel majorsideasart In any case, ideals are something we strive for; they are somewhere on the horizon of our efforts; they provide meaning and direction; they are not, however, static quotas that we either fulfill or do not. Vaclav Havel quotahorizoneffort 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 perseverancedifferenteach-day I believe that during the intervention of NATO in Kosovo there is an element nobody can question: the air attacks, the bombs, are not caused by a material interest. Their character is exclusively humanitarian: What is at stake here are the principles, human rights which have priority above state sovereignty. This makes it legitimate to attack the Yugoslav Federation, although without the United Nations mandate. Vaclav Havel rightscharacterbelieve We must come to understand the deep mutual connection or kinship between the various forms of our spirituality. We must recollect our original spiritual and moral substance, which grew out of the same essential experience of humanity. I believe that this is the only way to achieve a genuine renewal of our sense of responsibility for ourselves and for the world. And at the same time, it is the only way to achieve a deeper understanding among cultures that will enable them to work together in a truly ecumenical way to create a new order for the world. Vaclav Havel responsibilityspiritualbelieve
