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Vaclav Havel Quotes

Former President of Czechoslovakia

Vaclav Havel, born on October 5, 1936, was the former president of Czechoslovakia. He was a playwright, politician, and a leading figure in the Velvet Revolution. Known for his unwavering commitment to freedom, democracy, and human rights, Havel's works and actions had a profound impact on European politics in the post-Cold War era.

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Famous Vaclav Havel Quotes

“Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.”

“Isn't it the moment of most profound doubt that gives birth to new certainties? Perhaps hopelessness is the very soil that nourishes human hope; perhaps one could never find sense in life without first experiencing its absurdity.”

Giving Firsts Humans Moments Hope Doubt Birth Hero Profound Certainty Soil Hopeless Heroic Absurdity Hopelessness Without Hope Doubt And Certainty Hopes In Life Don't Give Up Hope

Author:Vaclav Havel

“Sometimes I wonder if suicides aren't in fact sad guardians of the meaning of life.”

Ifs Sometimes Facts Wonder Hero Suicide Meaning Of Life Heroic Suicidal Guardian Sometimes I Wonder

Author:Vaclav Havel

“The exercise of power is determined by thousands of interactions between the world of the powerful and that of the powerless, all the more so because these worlds are never divided by a sharp line: everyone has a small part of himself in both.”

World Leadership Lines Powerful Power Hero Exercise Determined Unhappy Divided Heroic Interaction Powerless Small Parts

Author:Vaclav Havel

“The tragedy of modern man is not that he knows less and less about the meaning of his own life, but that it bothers him less and less.”

Knows Men Modern Hero Tragedy Bother Heroic Idolatry Modern Man

Author:Vaclav Havel

“There are times when we must sink to the bottom of our misery to understand truth, just as we must descend to the bottom of a well to see the stars in broad daylight.”

Wells Political Stars Hero Misery Bottom Broads Heroic Daylight

Book:The Power of the Powerless: Citizens Against the State in Central Eastern Europe: Citizens Against the State in Central Eastern Europe

Source: The Power of the Powerless: Citizens Against the State in Central Eastern Europe: Citizens Against the State in Central Eastern Europe

“Modern man must descend the spiral of his own absurdity to the lowest point; only then can he look beyond it. It is obviously impossible to get around it, jump over it, or simply avoid it.”

Men Looks Impossible Modern Hero Over It Heroic Absurdity Lowest Spirals Modern Man Lowest Point

Author:Vaclav Havel

“I really do inhabit a system in which words are capable of shaking the entire structure of government, where words can prove mightier than 10 military divisions.”

Government Creativity Military Hero Ten Prove Capable Structure Theatre Division Heroic Anti War Shaking

Author:Vaclav Havel

“Hope is a feeling that life and work have meaning. You either have it or you don't, regardless of the state of the world that surrounds you.”

World States Feelings Hope Hero Artistic Surround Heroic Without Hope

Author:Vaclav Havel

“The salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human power to reflect, in human meekness and human responsibility.”

World Humans Heart Lying Responsibility Hero Salvation Human Heart Meekness Human Power Love And Responsibility

Author:Vaclav Havel

“The deeper the experience of an absence of meaning - in other words, of absurdity - the more energetically meaning is sought.”

Hero Deeper Absence Meaning Of Life Heroic Absurdity

Author:Vaclav Havel

“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 more highly structured and to struggle against entropy.”

Life Law Universe Struggle Hero Increase Constant Thrive Heroic Entropy Laws Of Life

Author:Vaclav Havel

“There's always something suspect about an intellectual on the winning side.”

Winning Sides Hero Intellectual Intelligent Winner Suspects

Author:Vaclav Havel

“If we are to change our world view, images have to change. The artist now has a very important job to do. He's not a little peripheral figure entertaining rich people, he's really needed.”

People Ifs World Littles Important Jobs Artist Views Creativity Rich Honesty Figures Hero Needed Our World Entertaining Citizenship Rich People World View Important Jobs

Author:Vaclav Havel

“Even a purely moral act that has no hope of any immediate and visible political effect can gradually and indirectly, over time, gain in political significance.”

Love Life Happiness Success Political Politics Attitude Moral Family Effects Hero Gains Visible Protest Significance Heroic Disobedience No Hope

Author:Vaclav Havel

“None of us know all the potentialities that slumber in the spirit of the population, or all the ways in which that population can surprise us when there is the right interplay of events.”

Knows Way Spirit Faith Events Hero Surprise Population Heroic Citizenship Slumber

Author:Vaclav Havel

“Without free, self-respecting, and autonomous citizens there can be no free and independent nations. Without internal peace, that is, peace among citizens and between the citizens and the state, there can be no guarantee of external peace.”

Self States Nations Peace Freedom Hero Citizens Respect Independent Guarantees Internals Citizenship Autonomous World Citizen Internal Peace

Author:Vaclav Havel

“Work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed.”

Motivation Chance Hero Succeed Goodness Heroic Prognostication

Author:Vaclav Havel

“When a truth is not given complete freedom, freedom is not complete.”

Given Hero Truth Is Heroic Complete Freedom

Author:Vaclav Havel

“I am convinced that we will never build a democratic state based on rule of law if we do not at the same time build a state that is-regardless of how unscientific this may sound to the ears of a political scientist-humane, moral, intellectual and spiritual, and cultural.”

Ifs May States Spiritual Law Political Sound Moral Hero Intellectual Ears Scientist Democratic Convinced Heroic Humane Rule Of Law

Author:Vaclav Havel

About the Author

Born: October 5, 1936
Died: December 18, 2011
Known for: Former President of Czechoslovakia
Quotes: 168

Books & Sources

The Power of the Powerless: Citizens Against the State in Central Eastern Europe: Citizens Against the State in Central Eastern EuropeRelated source material

To the Castle and BackRelated source material

The Power of the PowerlessRelated source material

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