Let us admit that most of us writers feel an essential aversion to politics. By taking such a position, however, we accept the perverted principle of specialization, according to which some are paid to write about the horrors of the… — Vaclav Havel Copy Share Image
If every day a man takes orders in silence from an incompetent superior, if every day he solemnly performs ritual acts which he privately finds ridiculous, if he unhesitatingly gives answers to questionnaires which are contrary to his real opinions… — Vaclav Havel Copy Share Image
I am convinced that we will never build a democratic state based on rule of law if we do not at the same time… — Vaclav Havel Copy Share
People who live in the post-totalitarian system know only too well that the question of whether one or several political parties are in power,… — Vaclav Havel Copy Share
“For by this very fact, individuals confirm the system, fulfill the system, make the system, are the system.” — Václav Havel Copy Share
Hope is not a feeling of certainty that everything ends well. Hope is just a feeling that life and work have a meaning. — Vaclav Havel Copy Share
This is a confusing and uncertain period, when a thousand wise words can go completely unnoticed, and one thoughtless word can provoke an utterly… — Vaclav Havel Copy Share
If by believing you mean praying to an anthropomorphic deity who created the world and half controls it and half observes it, then I… — Vaclav Havel Copy Share
Human beings are compelled to live within a lie, but they can be compelled to do so only because they are in fact capable… — Vaclav Havel Copy Share
Our country, if that is what we want, can now permanently radiate love, understanding, the power of the spirit and of ideas. It is… — Vaclav Havel Copy Share
I cannot imagine that I could strive for something if I did not carry hope in me. — Vaclav Havel Copy Share
A person who has been seduced by the consumer value system, whose identity is dissolved in an amalgam of the accouterments trappings of mass… — Vaclav Havel Copy Share
Whether all is really lost or not depends entirely on whether or not I am lost. — Vaclav Havel Copy Share
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 Copy Share
The exercise of power is determined by thousands of interactions between the world of the powerful and that of the powerless, all the more… — Vaclav Havel Copy Share
It's not true that you should first think up an idea for a better world and only then "put it into practice," but, rather,… — Vaclav Havel Copy Share
