"Woe to that nation whose literature is cut short by the intrusion of force. This is not merely interference with freedom of the press but the sealing up of a nation's heart, the excision of its memory."

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Added on April 10, 2026
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Freedom of speechJournalism
Original Language: English

Sources

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Nobel lecture prepared for the Swedish Academy, not actually delivered as an address (1970), variant translation, as quoted in TIME (25 February 1974). Another translations is "Woe to that nation whose literature is disturbed by the intervention of power. Because that is not just a violation against "freedom of print", it is the closing down of the heart of the nation, a slashing to pieces of its memory".