"The recent period — and in particular the last six weeks of our peaceful revolution — has shown the enormous human, moral and spiritual potential, and the civic culture that slumbered in our society under the enforced mask of apathy. Whenever someone categorically claimed that we were this or that, I always objected that society is a very mysterious creature and that it is unwise to trust only the face it presents to you. I am happy that I was not mistaken. Everywhere in the world people wonder where those meek, humiliated, skeptical and seemingly cynical citizens of Czechoslovakia found the marvelous strength to shake the totalitarian yoke from their shoulders in several weeks, and in a decent and peaceful way."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
AbsurdistsPlaywrights from the Czech RepublicFilm directors from the Czech RepublicPoliticians from the Czech RepublicPresidents of the Czech Republic
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/V%C3%A1clav_Havel
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Václav Havel
134 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Václav Havel →
Related Quotes
"A great fighter for the freedom of nations and for democracy has died … His outstanding voice of wisdom will be misse…"
"Having encountered many setbacks, Havel lived with a spirit of hope, which he defined as “the ability to work for som…"
"With the death of Vaclav Havel, the Czech republic has lost one of its great patriots, France has lost a friend, and …"
"Havel … invokes … "higher law" when he claims that "human rights, human freedoms . . . and human dignity have their d…"
"He will be remembered as a hero to the people of the Czech Republic and to lovers of freedom around the world."
"We are finding out that what looked like a neglected house a year ago is in fact a ruin."
"Man is in fact nailed down — like Christ on the Cross — to a grid of paradoxes . . . he balances between the torment …"
"It's not hard to stand behind one's successes. But to accept responsibility for one's failures... that is devishly ha…"
"Just as the constant increase of entropy is the basic law of the universe, so it is the basic law of life to be ever …"
"There's always something suspicious about an intellectual on the winning side."