--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The term \"national idea\" is an unclear…" description: "\"The term \"national idea\" is an unclear one. One might think of it as a widely shared understanding among a people as to the desired way of life in thei..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/17f/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn-671_concepts_the-term-national-idea-is-an-unclear-one_2870032.jpg" --- # The term "national idea" is an unclear one. One might… ![“The term "national idea" is an unclear one. One might think of it as a widely shared understanding among a people as to the desired way of life in their country, an idea that holds sway over the population. A unifying concept like that can be useful, but should never be created artificially or…” quote by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/17f/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn-671_concepts_the-term-national-idea-is-an-unclear-one_2870032.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/17f/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn-671_concepts_the-term-national-idea-is-an-unclear-one_2870032.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/17f/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn-671_concepts_the-term-national-idea-is-an-unclear-one_2870032.jpg) > “The term "national idea" is an unclear one. One might think of it as a widely shared understanding among a people as to the desired way of life in their country, an idea that holds sway over the population. A unifying concept like that can be useful, but should never be created artificially or imposed top-down by the powers-that-be.” [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A national idea is a shared vision of a country's desired life, but it should arise organically, not be forced by authorities. **In simple terms:** Shared national vision should develop naturally, not be imposed. Key Takeaway Cultivate organic consensus. Themes national identity politics culture society Mood thoughtful cautious Type philosophical political When to use this quote - policy making - education - public discourse - nation building Key Concepts Collective consciousness social contract Questions to Reflect On - How can genuine shared values emerge? - What risks arise from top‑down imposition? A Different Perspective Artificially imposed ideas can cause resistance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Concepts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/concepts/) [Country](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/country/) [Country Idea](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/country-idea-2382247/) [Idea Unclear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/idea-unclear-3921480/) [Ideas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ideas/) [Learning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/learning/) [Might](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/might/) [National Idea](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/national-idea-924737/) [Patriotism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/patriotism/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Population](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/population/) [Should](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/should/) [Term](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/term/) [Term National](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/term-national-3921481/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Top down](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/top-down/) [Unclear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unclear/) [Understanding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/understanding/) [Unifying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unifying/) [Unifying Concept](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unifying-concept-3921482/) [Way](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way/) [Way of life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way-of-life/) ## Related quotes > [When the whole discussion of "developing a national idea" hastily began in post-Soviet Russia, I tried to pour cold water on it with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/when-the-whole-discussion-of-developing-a-national-idea-hastily-began/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [We have a media that goes along with the government by parroting phrases intended to provoke a certain emotional response - for example, "national…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-snowden/we-have-a-media-that-goes-along-with-the-government-by-parroting/) [Edward Snowden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-snowden/) > [I established the Likud to serve a national idea and provide hope to the people of Israel, but it unfortunately can no longer do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ariel-sharon/i-established-the-likud-to-serve-a-national-idea-and-provide-hope-to/) [Ariel Sharon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ariel-sharon/) > [What can one say about a country where a museum of science in a great city can feature an exhibit in which people fire…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/what-can-one-say-about-a-country-where-a-museum-of-science-in-a-great/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [A Country is not a mere territory; the particular territory is only its foundation. The Country is the idea which rises upon that foundation;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giuseppe-mazzini/a-country-is-not-a-mere-territory-the-particular-territory-is-only/) [Giuseppe Mazzini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giuseppe-mazzini/) > [ I believe in this country \[the USA\], I love this country, I believe in the idea of this country, and this country is an… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-crosby/i-believe-in-this-country-the-usa-i-love-this-country-i-believe-in/) [David Crosby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-crosby/) > [America is not just a country, it's an idea.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-de-bono/america-is-not-just-a-country-it-s-an-idea/) [Edward de Bono](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-de-bono/) > [America is not so much a country as it is an idea, and that must be why so many people are drawn to it,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jamaica-kincaid/america-is-not-so-much-a-country-as-it-is-an-idea-and-that-must-be/) [Jamaica Kincaid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jamaica-kincaid/) > [Even if you didn't come from another country, the idea of how do you make a home somewhere new is common to anyone who's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/junot-diaz/even-if-you-didn-t-come-from-another-country-the-idea-of-how-do-you/) [Junot Diaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/junot-diaz/) > [I don't expect to get 100 percent of what I want, but what we can't do is go back to the kind of top-down…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/i-don-t-expect-to-get-100-percent-of-what-i-want-but-what-we-can-t-do/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) > [Optimization hinders evolution. Everything should be built top-down, except the first time. Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-perlis/optimization-hinders-evolution-everything-should-be-built-top-down/) [Alan Perlis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-perlis/) > [ He's \[Louis Brandais\] so suspicious of bigness in government as well as business that he mistrusts even really top-down reforms at the state level.… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-rosen/he-s-louis-brandais-so-suspicious-of-bigness-in-government-as-well-as/) [Jeffrey Rosen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-rosen/) > [I was elected because I believed in what we call "grassroots politics," politics from the bottom up, not the top down.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/i-was-elected-because-i-believed-in-what-we-call-grassroots-politics/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) > [It's always hard for me to find a therapist who is a black woman or even a woman of color. It's something that we've…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/morgan-parker/it-s-always-hard-for-me-to-find-a-therapist-who-is-a-black-woman-or/) [Morgan Parker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/morgan-parker/) > [In politics we face the choice between warmongering, nation-state loving, big-business agents on one hand; and risk-blind, top-down, epistemic arrogant big servants of large…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/in-politics-we-face-the-choice-between-warmongering-nation-state/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) ## More by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn > [If you wanted to put the world to rights, who should you begin with: yourself or others?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/if-you-wanted-to-put-the-world-to-rights-who-should-you-begin-with/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [“...you are strong only as long as you don't deprive people of everything . For a person you've taken everything from is no longer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/you-are-strong-only-as-long-as-you-don-t-deprive-people-of-everything/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [Woe to that nation whose literature is cut short by the intrusion of force. 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Some things lead us into a realm beyond words.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/not-everything-has-a-name-some-things-lead-us-into-a-realm-beyond/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [It is almost always impossible to evaluate at the time events which you have already experienced, and to understand their meaning with the guidance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/it-is-almost-always-impossible-to-evaluate-at-the-time-events-which/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [Human nature is full of riddles; . . . one of those riddles is: how is it that people who have been crushed by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/human-nature-is-full-of-riddles-one-of-those-riddles-is-how-is-it/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [“It was astonishing that the pseudo wreckers, who knew perfectly well that they weren't wreckers, believed that military men and priests were being shaken…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/it-was-astonishing-that-the-pseudo-wreckers-who-knew-perfectly-well/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [When the whole discussion of "developing a national idea" hastily began in post-Soviet Russia, I tried to pour cold water on it with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/when-the-whole-discussion-of-developing-a-national-idea-hastily-began/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [“It was granted me to carry away from my prison years on my bent back, which nearly broke beneath its load, this essential experience;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/it-was-granted-me-to-carry-away-from-my-prison-years-on-my-bent-back/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [Call no day happy 'til it is done; call no man happy til he is dead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/call-no-day-happy-til-it-is-done-call-no-man-happy-til-he-is-dead/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [Whenever the tissue of life is woven of legalistic relationships, this creates an atmosphere of spiritual mediocrity that paralyzes a person's noblest impulses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/whenever-the-tissue-of-life-is-woven-of-legalistic-relationships-this/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [The same old caveman feeling-greed, envy, violence, and mutual hate, which along the way assumed respectable pseudonyms like class struggle, racial struggle, mass struggle,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/the-same-old-caveman-feeling-greed-envy-violence-and-mutual-hate/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [Surrender one hair, and you'll end up beardless.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/surrender-one-hair-and-you-ll-end-up-beardless/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) [Explore all 412 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) ## More Concepts quotes > [Capability is just a concept of what is it we're looking at. Now how far we can go along that and what new capabilities…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amartya-sen/capability-is-just-a-concept-of-what-is-it-we-re-looking-at-now-how/) [Amartya Sen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amartya-sen/) > [Our concept of a family holiday was going to a guest house in the Lake district or Wales where walking was part of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-bannister/our-concept-of-a-family-holiday-was-going-to-a-guest-house-in-the/) [Roger Bannister](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-bannister/) > [What is music? Music is language. A human being wants to express ideas in this language, but not ideas that can be translated into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anton-webern/what-is-music-music-is-language-a-human-being-wants-to-express-ideas/) [Anton Webern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anton-webern/) > [We do not want to be reminded that it is we, the indigenous people, who are poor and exploited in the land of our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-biko/we-do-not-want-to-be-reminded-that-it-is-we-the-indigenous-people-who/) [Steven Biko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-biko/) > [The whole concept of stage fright is fascinating. Actors get stage fright, but they wouldn't be on the stage in the first place if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-greene/the-whole-concept-of-stage-fright-is-fascinating-actors-get-stage/) [Robert Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-greene/) > [I do like talking with friends about big concepts, you know, the stuff that will ruin a party. 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There is not a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/you-imagine-that-i-look-back-on-my-life-s-work-with-calm-satisfaction/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [For a physicist mathematics is not just a tool by means of which phenomena can be calculated, it is the main source of concepts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/freeman-dyson/for-a-physicist-mathematics-is-not-just-a-tool-by-means-of-which/) [Freeman Dyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/freeman-dyson/) > [One of the most powerful concepts, one which is a sure cure for lack of confidence, is the thought that God is with you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-vincent-peale/one-of-the-most-powerful-concepts-one-which-is-a-sure-cure-for-lack/) [Norman Vincent Peale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-vincent-peale/) > [All significant concepts of the modern theory of the state are secularized theological concepts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-schmitt/all-significant-concepts-of-the-modern-theory-of-the-state-are/) [Carl Schmitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-schmitt/) > [If you are trying to live a life in accordance with the Bible, the concept and call to justice are inescapable. We do justice…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-keller/if-you-are-trying-to-live-a-life-in-accordance-with-the-bible-the/) [Timothy Keller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-keller/) > [So many times we come to Jesus in worship and ask Him for things that He already IS and has already done... What a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christy-nockels/so-many-times-we-come-to-jesus-in-worship-and-ask-him-for-things-that/) [Christy Nockels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christy-nockels/) > [ I don't think in national categories. For me it \[policy\] is about concepts and substance. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-claude-juncker/i-don-t-think-in-national-categories-for-me-it-policy-is-about/) [Jean-Claude Juncker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-claude-juncker/) > [In the very beginning, Yelp started as a service where we really didn't think people would write reviews for fun. The whole concept of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-stoppelman/in-the-very-beginning-yelp-started-as-a-service-where-we-really-didn/) [Jeremy Stoppelman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-stoppelman/) > [To pray without expectation is to misunderstand the whole concept of prayer and relationship with God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/to-pray-without-expectation-is-to-misunderstand-the-whole-concept-of/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) [Browse all 2,468 Concepts quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/concepts/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The term \"national idea\" is an unclear one. One might think of it as a widely shared understanding among a people as to the desired way of life in their country, an idea that holds sway over the population. 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