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Quote by Vaclav Havel

“Communism was overthrown by life, by thought, by dignity.”

Quote by Vaclav Havel

Author

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. more

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“Human rights are universal and indivisible. Human freedom is also indivisible: if it is denied to anyone in the world, it is therefore denied, indirectly, to all people. This is why we cannot remain silent in the face of evil or violence; silence merely encourages them.”

People Ifs World Humans Faces Evil Silence Rights Violence Universal Silent Human Rights Denied Humanitarianism Indivisible Human Freedom

Author:Vaclav Havel

“If one were required to increase the dramatic seriousness of his face in relation to the seriousness of the problems he had to confront, he would quickly petrify and become his own statue.”

Ifs Problem Faces Laughter Increase Relation Dramatic Statues Seriousness

Author:Vaclav Havel

“People thought they could explain and conquer nature-yet the outcome is that they destroyed it and disinherited themselves from it.”

People Nature Destroyed Conquer Outcomes

Author:Vaclav Havel

“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.”

Has Beens Society Huge Confused Our Society Goodwill Crippled Perplexed

Author:Vaclav Havel

“I have read somewhere that in a totalitarian system martyrdom does better than thought.”

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Author:Vaclav Havel

“It cannot suffice to invent new machines, new regulations, new institutions. It is necessary to change and improve our understanding of the true purpose of what we are and what we do in the world. Only such a new understanding will allow us to develop new models of behavior, new scales of values and goals, and thereby invest the global regulations, treaties and institutions with a new spirit and meaning.”

World Spirit Purpose Values Understanding Goal Behavior Models Machines Institutions Scales Regulation Conservation Treaties True Purpose Values And Goals

Author:Vaclav Havel

“This is a confusing and uncertain period, when a thousand wise words can go completely unnoticed, and one thoughtless word can provoke an utterly nonsensical furor.”

Language Wise Wise Words Periods Thousand Uncertain Provoking Confusing Unnoticed Nonsensical

Author:Vaclav Havel

“The only salvation of the world today... is the rapid dissemination of the basic values of the West, that is, the ideas of democracy, human rights, the civil society, and the free market.”

World Humans Ideas Today Values Democracy Rights Salvation West Human Rights Free Market Rapids World Today Civil Society Dissemination

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“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?”

Might Doubt Horror Intellectual No Doubt Distrust Vocation Slumber

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“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...”

Way Light Roles Creator Mediums Unfathomable

Author:Vaclav Havel