I have read somewhere that in a totalitarian system martyrdom does better than thought. — Vaclav Havel Copy Share Image
The law is only one of several imperfect and more or less external ways of defending what is better in life against… — Vaclav Havel Copy Share Image
The Declaration of Independence states that the Creator gave man the right to liberty. It seems man can realize that liberty only… — 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… — Vaclav Havel Copy Share Image
Planetary democracy does not yet exist but our global civilization is already preparing a place for it. It is the very Earth… — Vaclav Havel Copy Share Image
When a man has his heart in the right place and good taste, he can not only do well in politics but… — Vaclav Havel Copy Share Image
Human beings are compelled to live within a lie, but they can be compelled to do so only because they are in… — Vaclav Havel Copy Share Image
We ask ourselves all kinds of questions, such as why does a peacock have such beautiful feathers, and we may answer that… — Vaclav Havel Copy Share Image
A state that denies its citizens their basic rights becomes a danger to its neighbors as well: internal arbitrary rule will be… — Vaclav Havel Copy Share Image
The dissident does not operate in the realm of genuine power at all. He is not seeking power. He has no desire… — Vaclav Havel Copy Share Image
Someone who does not draw strength from himself and who is incapable of finding the meaning of his life within himself will...seek… — 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
